Hidden Truths
by Secretsivekept
Summary: Cursed. Grieving. Lost. His tribe... gone. While wandering through an unfamiliar world, Hiccup is hunted down for being a monster, and meets Elsa. The two broken individuals meet in one of their darkest moments, and when eventually they separate to learn more about themselves, they never forget the person that truly understood them. Years later, they will meet again. (Slow-Burn)
1. Prologue

**A/N**: It has been YEARS since I've posted on this format or AO3, and I'm still trying to remember how things work/what's changed, so a little patience if I do something dumb would be appreciated LOL. Also, I couldn't think of a great description for this story; this story is literally the first thing I've actually written out in a frenzy in a loooooong time, so I'm kind of just taking what inspiration I have in stride. ((even though I have so many things I need to do...)). A lot of the first couple chapters was actually a story I'd started back in 2016 but i recently found it and got inspired all over again, so I fixed it up and kept going with it.

Anywho, hope you enjoy!

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

_Many years ago…._

"Xenophilius Rastemund." A thin man with long, unwashed and tangled silver hair slowly ambled into a large, circular stone room. He stood before a group of men, his wrists were bound in shackles, and his clothes were in tatters and covered in grime. The thin man stared at the men in a haunting gaze with wide, owl-like blue eyes. Some of the men who sat before him in a half circle looked upon him sadly, while others glared with cold hatred.

"Xenophilius Rastemund," the head man spoke again, glancing at a sheet of parchment before him on the long table that all the men were sitting at. "Former wizard, mentor, and alchemist. You have been charged with the mutilation and death of one of our fellow brethren, Nicodemus Pledge. There were numerous eyewitnesses to this incident; what do you have to say in your defense?"

Rastemund was silent for a moment, before a grin began to grow underneath his bush of a beard. A hacking cough escaped his chest as he laughed, his chains rattling as his form shook. The half circle of men glanced at each other uncertainly, quite bewildered at this man's response to an accusation of murder.

"Hehehehe-_cough_-, he wasn't-_cough_\- perfect," the man in chains finally spoke through his laughter. "Too imperfect, wasn't the right-_cough_\- fit. Wasn't the right fit. Wouldn't match with the creature I picked. Wouldn't match, wouldn't match… hehehe… I'm close, though, close close close…. so close to finding the perfect match, to create the perfect species, to create the perfect species…" Rastemund continued to mumble on incoherently, swaying on his feet as he stared into the distance. The head wizard sighed, setting down the parchment. Sadness lurked behind his eyes.

"He's completely mad…" he said. "What happened to this man?"

"I heard a potion blew up in his face," one of the council men said. "That's just one rumor though. Another one I've heard is that he was cursed by some sort of demon."

"The question isn't how he _got_ to be mad, the question we should be asking ourselves is what to _do_ with this man?" A third one spoke up angrily. "He has killed a young wizard in training in the most… horrid way possible. All for the sake of… of… I don't know, pleasure?!"

"To '_create the perfect species,'_ didn't you hear him? Didn't you see his house, and all the… the _horrors _he kept there? He seems obsessed with creating the so-called "perfect species"," the second one replied, "No matter how he got this way, I believe his mind has become too warped and dangerous to continue on in this world. Let us give him a peaceful passing."

"Kill him?" A fourth one objected.

"He killed young Nicodemus!"

"But he is mentally ill, perhaps there is a cure for him! Or what if he slowly regains his former mental state?" The fourth suggested. "Before his illness, he was a powerful, respected wizard of great renown, that has to count for something! We can't just kill him like he's a thoughtless criminal when there might be something left hidden behind all this… madness."

"What would you suggest then?" The head wizard turned to the fourth, his face tired and worn. He just wanted to get this trial over with already. The fourth wizard seemed to notice this, but pondered his thoughts carefully.

"I suggest exile. To an abandoned island up north. Cast spells around the island so no boat will be able to reach or leave it. Let Fate decide what to do with him," he said at last.

The councilmen considered the fourth wizard's proposal, and some nodded their heads in agreement. Indeed, it sounded a kinder punishment for a man they once knew so well.

"We will take more time to consider your offer," The Head councilman said. "For now, Xenophilous Rastemund will be returned to his cell." He waved his hands, and armed guards came forward and gripped Rastemund by the arms, leading him away. Rastemund was still laughing as the doors slowly closed behind him. Many of the councilmen didn't mention it then, but inwardly they had all already decided. They would exile him and leave him to Fate.


	2. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

_CRACK-BOOOM!_

_CR-R-R-RACK—BOOOM!_

Perhaps it wasn't the _smartest_ idea in the world to be flying dead center in a raging thunderstorm. Hiccup shivered violently, tugging his soggy cloak tighter around his shoulders with frigid cold fingers as the wind whipped through his wet hair. The rain was beating him mercilessly and cut through his skin like sharp knives, giving no intention of letting up soon. Lightning flashed dangerously close by, startling Hiccup and his dragon as deafening thunder boomed once more.

Toothless gave a low moaning growl, probably just as cold and uncomfortable—and tired—as Hiccup felt. Hiccup reached up a hand and patted Toothless's head.

"S-sorry bud, j-just a bit furth-ther," he said shakily, his teeth chattering up a storm. In truth, Hiccup didn't really know how much further there was to go to _anywhere. _The two were stuck in midair, surrounded by miles of ocean, clouds, and the cold. As far as Hiccup could tell, they would have to continue flying for quite some time until they reached someplace to land and hopefully take shelter. They certainly couldn't turn back home… Not now.

Not ever.

Hiccup was running away. He didn't care if it called him a coward; he just couldn't in his good conscience stay on the Island of Berk and kill a dragon to prove he was part of the tribe. Not now that he had realized the truth about dragons. Misunderstood creatures, they were. Dragons weren't merely vicious demons out to destroy every house and steal every bit of food; they were intelligent, _beautiful_ creatures, when given the chance. Toothless was living proof of that.

A large gust of wind buffeted the two, nearly knocking Hiccup off Toothless' back. He yelped, straightening himself and making sure once again that he was secured onto the saddle.

Oh, _gods,_ it was cold.

He had long since lost feeling in his toes, his ears were so frozen they felt they could fall of at a moment's notice, and his poor fingers were so stiff he could barely move them. His nose felt like a block of ice.

"Uhhgh," Hiccup mumbled incoherently. He wrapped the damp cloak tighter around himself; not that it did much good. His thoughts traveled to the extra blanked he'd stored in the basket behind him; however, it was buried deep underneath extra tunics and pants, so there was no getting to that blanket now, especially not a thousand feet above a roaring sea.

Toothless suddenly gave a warning, bark-like growl. Hiccup perked up.

"W-what is it, bud?" he stuttered, his tongue feeling thick and slow. Toothless gave an excited warble, and his wings picked up the pace. Hiccup's heartbeat quickened.

_Has he spotted land?_ he thought eagerly, squinting as best he could through the thick raindrops and misty spray. If he focused… he thought he just might be able to pick something out in the mist, something… large… and shaped like…

_Land. _Oh, thank the gods. Hiccup lifted his face to the heavens and sent a small prayer of thanks to Odin, before urging Toothless on as quickly as possible. Toothless flapped his wings harder, fighting against the howling gale. There were more flashes of lighting, and more deafening thrums of thunder, but the two were hardly fazed as they eagerly approached the island.

The dark shape in the distance slowly became clearer as they neared. Hiccup was keen to finally rest his tired limbs, hopefully find a dry place to camp out and maybe even start a fire.

_Ah, a fire,_ Hiccup thought longingly. He shivered again, his teeth chattering even harder than before. The looming mass of hills and trees finally became clear, and eagerly the two searched for a place to land. They passed over rocky cliffs and flew over swaying trees, Hiccup's emerald green eyes searching vividly for a small clearing or something to land in.

Suddenly a bolt of lightning shot out of the clouds, hitting a tree so close to them that Hiccup felt his skin tingle and his hairs stand on end. Toothless roared in surprise, flapping away from the sparks the bolt of lightning had caused. The thunder that followed a nanosecond later made Hiccup's ears feel like they could burst. He clamped a hand over his ear in pain, the other hand clutching Toothless' saddle as they swerved out of the way.

Toothless flapped hard as they lowered their descent through the forest, finally touching the wet forest floor with a solid _thwump! _Hiccup nearly fell off of Toothless's back from the momentum.

"_Geez,_ that was close," Hiccup looked up, squinting at the place where lightning had struck the tree. He was quite sure he could see that the tip of it was smoldering slightly, but from his distance it was hard to tell for sure.

_Does the universe hate me or something?_ Hiccup wondered crossly, _how do I keep landing myself into these situations?!_ His ears were still ringing, and his legs were stiff from the cold and sitting in the same position for so long. He tried to rub the feeling back into his frozen legs, and breathed into his fingers for some warmth. He surveyed the forest canopy that they had taken shelter under. It was still raining pretty hard, but the trees around them provided them some protection from most of the raging wind. Hiccup sighed with relief, though he was still chilled to the bone and as soggy as a sponge. He was just glad to get out of that wind.

"Come on bud, lets try to find some shelter," he muttered tiredly. He clambered out of the saddle, stumbling a little when his numb feet hit the forest floor. Hiccup waited a moment for the pins and needles feeling faded from his lower limbs before he began to trudge on with his dutiful dragon behind him. Rain dripped down his forehead, creating puddles beneath his feet as he looked around, hoping to find something to use as shelter; a log, a hollow tree, a bush. But in the immediate vicinity, there was nothing in sight.

It was a good thing Hiccup had brought along a tent, then. He stopped and reached for the large basket that was secured to Toothless's saddle and untied it. The basket was heavy, his sore arms trembling to lift it off the saddle, but somehow he managed to successfully pull it off. He rummaged through the various parcels he had packed before he found his tent stuck at the very bottom.

"Here we go," he grunted, yanking it out with mild difficulty. It didn't take long to set up his tent, though his frozen fingers did slow the process of tying knots considerably, but not long after Hiccup had crawled into his tent, dragging his basket alongside him. Toothless stuck his head into the tent, wanting to follow him in. Hiccup laughed.

"No, Toothless, there isn't room!" He nudged his friend out the front flap with his hand. Toothless gave a guttural moan in protest, but didn't stick his head back in. Instead, Hiccup could hear Toothless pacing around outside for a bit before curling up around the tent protectively. He felt bad for leaving his dragon outside, but he knew Toothless would be fine. A little rain wouldn't hurt him—plus Hiccup's tent really could only fit _him,_ there was no way he could share with a full grown dragon. And a Night Fury, at that.

Maybe one day Hiccup could get a bigger tent to fit the both of them.

It was then that Hiccup realized just how hungry and cold he was. His clothes were still extremely damp, sucking out every ounce of heat from his body. He should probably change out of them before he caught a cold or something worse. Plus, a bite to eat didn't sound bad—he hadn't eaten since that morning.

He reached back into the basket, looking for the bread and cheese he'd stored in there, as well as some fish for Toothless. He dug through his bundles of extra clothes until his fingers closed around the small tied cloth containing his food. He lifted it out of the basket, setting it aside and then dug back in for a change of clothes. The clothes in the basket were also slightly damp, but not as soaked as the clothes he was wearing at that moment. He quickly changed into his drier clothes and dug around to hopefully find a blanket or something to wrap himself in.

Though Hiccup was no longer getting wet, it was still freezing and he needed _something_ to keep warm. He couldn't light a fire yet, any wood he would find would be completely damp, not to mention the tent was too small to light a fire inside. He would have to wait till the rain stopped.

At the bottom of the basket, he found that extra blanket and eagerly yanked it out. He wrapped it around his shoulders before untying the parcels containing the food. He took out some bread and cheese, and in the other some fish for Toothless.

"Toooothleeeess," he called, opening the flap of the tent and tossing the dragon some fish. Toothless immediately perked up and gobbled the fish up like lightning. "Good boy," Hiccup smiled, stroking his cold wet scales. Toothless nuzzled his hand, sniffing hopefully for more.

"Sorry, bud," he sighed, showing him his empty hands. "No more. Once the rain stops, we can fish, though," he promised. Toothless warbled happily, resting his head by the tent entrance, his eyes begging for attention. Hiccup snorted, but gave in and scratched his dragon under the chin. Toothless gave another happy croon, and his rider smiled fondly back.

Hiccup reached back inside with his free hand and grabbed some bread, taking a large chunk out of it with his teeth. He laid on his stomach and chewed slowly, one hand sticking out of the entrance under Toothless' chin, the other holding the piece of bread near his greedy mouth.

Outside, the rain had subsided some, turning into more of a heavy drizzle than a harsh downpour. It wasn't that different than the rain they got at Berk, except at Berk the rain usually came with hail more often than he would like. Hiccup's eyes glazed over some as his thoughts wandered from the forest canopy back to his home.

His father had most likely found out he was gone, by now. He had probably found the note Hiccup had left on his bed…

'_I'm sorry.'_ it had said. '_I'm not the viking you thought I was, and I don't think I'll ever be. I can't kill that dragon. I can't stay. Goodbye.' _

It was quite a vague note, but Hiccup didn't think he would've been able to explain the fact that he had _trained and befriended a freaking Night Fury_ to his father in just one small piece of paper. In hindsight, perhaps he should have explained his reasonings why he left in better detail; but what was done was done. He couldn't go back now, he'd already been gone for nearly twenty-four hours. More than half that time was consisted of flying; he was roughly hundreds of miles from Berk by now, for sure.

His thoughts wandered to the Monstrous Nightmare he was supposed to kill that day… or was it yesterday? Hiccup's frown deepened. Astrid would probably get the honors of disposing of that dragon… which meant Hiccup had done absolutely nothing to help the dragon by leaving.

A cold feeling grew in the pit of his stomach as he thought of the repercussions of his actions. Perhaps his father would cancel the ceremony and send out a search party? That was likely; they wouldn't just continue on with the ceremony as if nothing had happened, not since Hiccup had started to grow in popularity with the people of Berk with his newfound… _skills._ At the very least, it would postpone the death of the Monstrous Nightmare; perhaps he _should_ turn back, if to help the captive dragons escape before anything happened to them_. _Help them escape, then leave for good. That didn't sound like a bad plan.

_How would I do that, though?_ He wondered. It would have to be in the dead of night; it was not like the dragons were heavily guarded. The vikings put lots of trust into the cages they put the dragons in, and you would have to be completely out of your mind to want to try and set them _free_ (like Hiccup, apparently), so it wasn't as if they thought someone _would _come and free them. Usually the cages were left unguarded for the most part, with one lookout or two to make sure the dragons hadn't busted out of their cages.

He would just have to hope that no one passed by as he did it, and hope the lookouts were asleep.

Yeah. That seemed like a plan—it might have a lot of holes in it, but it was a plan.

Hiccup stuffed the rest of the bread into his mouth and chewed slowly. The rain had all but stopped now, thankfully. It was still lightly drizzling, but compared to the storming gale earlier Hiccup was quite relieved. He stared out into the forest, observing the landscape with keen green eyes.

A sudden thought occurred to him and he cocked his head.

All the trees… were the exact _same_, he noticed. Tall, thick, and evenly spaced between each other. Odd. He'd never seen a forest like this before. Usually forests were full of old and young trees, and trees of different variety and kinds, but this forest seemed to be made of trees all exactly the same age and within the same distance as each other… almost like they'd been _planted_. Strange vines creeped up alongside the tall trees and covered the ground, creating a small carpet that would come up to Hiccup's ankles, if he'd been standing. He couldn't help but notice that there weren't any other plants about; just the trees and the vines.

Odd…

A chill ran down his spine, along with a very… _uneasy_ feeling. He tried to dismiss it as soon as he got it, but the feeling was quite persistent. Something was just… _off_. It was a feeling in the atmosphere, something he just couldn't place. He focused hard on the forest, wondering if he could pinpoint what it was.

After a few moments, he realized that he could hear no birds chirping or wind howling; just _silence_. Was that what made him feel so weird?

Toothless suddenly perked up and lifted his head, staring at something in the distance. His nose crinkled slightly, as if he'd smelled a fowl odor, and let out a low guttural growl. Hiccup jerked his head to his dragon, his stomach doing several flips as his heart pounded.

"What is it, bud?" Hiccup looked in the direction his dragon was facing, darting his eyes about nervously. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, just more trees and more rain.

Then for the first time he noticed some large round stones, maybe as big as buckets, in the midst of the trees; but that was the only detail Hiccup hadn't noticed before. Toothless gave another uneasy grumble, his large yellow eyes narrowing.

A loud shriek above them made Hiccup nearly jump out of his skin. He looked up just in time to see a large black shape swoop over the tent. Hiccup yelped in surprise, going rigid as his eyes focused on the thing that had appeared in front of them.

It was just an owl. Hiccup sighed with relief and felt quite ridiculous as he relaxed and the owl flapped towards the ground, no doubt in the middle of a hunt. He'd just been spooked by an owl—the other teens in the tribe would have never heard the end of it.

The other teens…

Hiccup sighed, finishing off the bread as his mind wandered again.

He didn't really know what to think of them anymore. Over the past few weeks as he excelled in Dragon Training, the others had acted less as bullies towards him. They made fun of him less and had actually wanted to be in his company! It had been extremely hard to slip away with all the newfound attention he was getting, but Hiccup would have been lying if he said he hadn't enjoyed it, at least a _little_ bit. He'd never got any sort of attention before, being the screw-up of the village, so the experience had been new and he'd rather liked it.

Astrid, though, the one person whose attention he'd sought after for years, was the only one who didn't change her attitude towards him. If anything, she'd gotten even more angry and curt with him. Hiccup could easily guess why; she was the star dragon trainee, the top of her class from before, and Hiccup, the renowned walking disaster of the village, was passing her up without hardly trying, it seemed. Had she been… jealous?

Astrid. Jealous of _him._ Maybe Hiccup was wrong, perhaps he was just daydreaming, but logically it was sound. It made sense seeing how Astrid would go from indifferent towards him to looks of hatred in the span of a few weeks, when others went from looks of hatred to looks of admiration. It… it had definitely been a crazy few weeks.

But all that was gone now, he had to remind himself.

He pulled the blanket tighter across his shoulders, tensing a bit more. What would happen now? He had a vague plan to go back and free the captive dragons, but then what? What would happen after that? Travel the world like Johann, the sea merchant that had been nearly everywhere and came with quite incredible stories to tell? That was the most likely option. See the world. He had a flying reptile, after all. A dragon was much faster than a boat or a horse, making world travel so much easier. But where would he go? Just… travel? See where he ended up?

Hiccup suddenly remembered Johann once speak of a faraway land called Vineland, which was rich with soil and bountiful in crops, the land fair and the greenest you could ever see. Perhaps Hiccup could go find Vineland. That would be an ideal place to live. He fancied the idea of him and Toothless living there, flying around tall mountains and valleys, hunting and fishing, and then sleeping in a cabin he'd made. Just the two of them.

While intriguing, Hiccup realized it was quite a… lonely idea. Toothless was great company, but… Hiccup couldn't imagine spending the rest of his life by himself. He would want a human companion to do things with, too. Maybe even… start a family with.

He'd often daydreamed that that companion would be Astrid, but that possibility had gone from a small single-digit chance to completely _zero_. Not now that he'd run away. Not now that he was friends with a _dragon_ of all things_._ There was the likelihood Hiccup would never even see Astrid again. He would never again see those beautiful sky-blue eyes, that beautiful face, her golden hair as it caught sunlight, creating the illusion that she was a valkyrie straight from the gates of Asgard.

Hiccup was doing it again, staring into space with a dreamy look in his eyes. He quickly shook his head to rid his thoughts of the beautiful viking warrior. He didn't need to be thinking about that right now. It would only cause him more needless pain, especially since his daydreams would never become a reality. And there wasn't much of a chance he could convince her that dragons were good; she, like the rest of her tribe, was a very 'act-first-ask-questions-later' kind of person. She'd probably chop his head off before he could even begin to explain _why_ he was friends with a Night Fury, the deadliest of all dragons.

The deadliest of all dragons in question was currently grooming his armpit, making disgusting squelching noises with his tongue.

"You really are a terror, aren't you, Bud?" Hiccup said sarcastically. Toothless lifted his head, warbling at Hiccup as if indignantly saying '_I'm completely terrifying, you've just seen my good side, that's all._' Hiccup smiled, reaching up a hand to scratch his dragon's chin again. "Yeah, a real terror," he said again as Toothless began to croon as he scratched his favorite spot.

Toothless's ears suddenly perked up and he whipped his head up, on high alert. He gave a startled, menacing growl, and Hiccup, alarmed, looked to where Toothless was growling at.

"Toothless, what—," He didn't get to finish, for just a couple yards away from them—where Hiccup had been quite sure there definitely _hadn't_ been before—was an old man.

Hiccup opened and closed his mouth, another chill running down his spine as his stomach clenched with terror. The uneasy feeling from before returned again with a vengeance as he stared warily at the old man. He kept his eyes on him as he slowly climbed out of the tent and stood up, keeping a hand on the hilt of his knife under the blanket

The old man was short, hunched over with age, and his bony fingers clung to a tall feeble-looking staff. A snow white beard tumbled down to his waist, matted and unkempt. He was wrapped in strange black garments, and a peculiar red and gold sash was tied around his waist.

Hiccup hardly paid any attention to that, though, as he found himself staring at the man's wide, haunting and _extremely_ creepy blue eyes. They were staring right at him with the gaze of an owl—which was extremely disconcerting to find on the face of a man.

"Er…" Hiccup croaked, finally finding his voice. "H-hello?"

"What is this magnificent beast?" the stranger ignored Hiccup's greeting, instead stared at Toothless with his owl-like gaze. Toothless snarled, standing up and slinking near Hiccup, his ears pinned back defensively.

"Ah—that, that would be, uh, my… my dragon," Hiccup stuttered, "Sorry, a-are we trespassing or something, because if so we'll gladly leave—,"

"No!" The old man rasped, shaking his head, "No, no, no, you must stay! It would be cruel to leave the two of out in this… horrible, horrible weather. Hee-hee-hee. Come, I have a warm house, and warm food. Come! Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee," The old man gestured for Hiccup to follow him, while a large laughing bout suddenly escaped the man's chest.

Hiccup grew even more uncomfortable.

"Uh… well, thanks, but um—," While Hiccup wanted nothing more than to be in a warm house with warm food, this man… he could just tell by looking at the old man that all was not right upstairs.

It was then he noticed the man was carrying shrunken heads on his belt. He flinched at the sight. They weren't human heads, thankfully; they were the heads of different animals, but it certainly alarmed him. The only viking tribes he knew to do this sort of thing were the Meatheads and the Bezerkers; both _extremely_ unpleasant people, and not ones to cross paths with.

"I—I think I'm fine, actually, out here…" Hiccup croaked, forcing himself to look back at the man's uncanny eyes.

Wait, how had he gotten so close?! He was now at least three feet away from Hiccup.

Toothless snarled loudly, putting his head between Hiccup's body and the old man, his scales and wings bristling in warning. However, the old man was unfazed and pointed his cane in Toothless' direction. Hiccup could have sworn he saw a spark of light ignite from the tip of the cane, but it happened so fast he thought he imagined it.

Toothless suddenly stopped growling, dropping the menacing air and instead was replaced with a rather dopey, hazy look, as if he'd had too much dragon nip.

"What—hey!" Hiccup cried, frightened. "What did you do?!"

The old man ignored him. Instead he grabbed Hiccup by the arm with a surprisingly strong grip for such an old man and dragged him along. Hiccup yelped, half in pain and half in surprise. Stumbling slightly, Toothless quietly followed the two of them.

Hiccup wildly looked back and forth between the old man and Toothless, growing more panicked by the second.

"What did you just do to Toothless?" he demanded shrilly.

"I have a way with creatures, hee-he-he," the old man said with a single-tooth grin. There was a sudden flapping noise, and the owl from before flew overhead, landing on the man's shoulder. The owl stared at him with an expression not dissimilar to the creepy old man's, except the owl's eyes were a bright green instead of blue. Hiccup looked back at Toothless's dopey eyes, a knot forming in the pit of his stomach.

This was bad. This was _bad._

Whoever—_whatever_ this man was, if he could incapacitate Toothless like this, there was no telling what he could do if Hiccup just let him drag them wherever!

"Listen," Hiccup yanked out his knife with his free hand and pointed it at the old man. "I'm not afraid to use this! I'm a viking, you know! From the Isle of Berk, son of Stoic the Vast himself! If he finds out I'm missing, he'll launch a full attack!"

"Oh, silly silly boy," the old man chuckled, waving his staff. That spark appeared again, and the knife suddenly glowed hot in HIccup's hands. He dropped it with a yelp of pain and it vanished among the vines. He tried to reach for it, but he was yanked along again and the knife was too far out of reach.

Hiccup cursed, trying to not let his panic overwhelm him. He had to think clearly if he was to get out of this. He dug his feet into the ground, trying to stop them, but was yanked nearly off his feet by the strength of the old man.

"I'm telling you!" Hiccup cried, hoping his bluff worked. "My father will launch an attack! Hundreds of viking ships—you wouldn't want that!"

"Silly, silly boy," the old man chuckled again. "This island is guarded by magic! No boat can sail here!"

Hiccup felt his stomach drop, dread sitting like ice in his gut.

"Silly boy! You are my _guest!"_ the old man rambled on.

Hiccup looked around wildly, wracking his brain to try to think of what to do.

His eyes shot to some movement in the distance and he stared, caught off guard. He could have sworn one of those mossy rocks… had _moved?_ He blinked, squinting hard, but with another yank from the old man's bony hand he was brought back to the present. He'd probably just imagined it, in his panic. He had bigger issues right now to deal with, like being freaking _kidnapped!_

Maybe the man just thought of himself as an overeager host? Perhaps threatening him at first had been the wrong move?

Hiccup cleared his throat, ready to try anything.

"I know you want me as your guest, but I _really_ think I should go, I don't want to intrude on your hospitality," Hiccup said as politely as possible, trying to not sound as terrified as he felt. The man suddenly stopped, turning to face Hiccup.

"Go? But you have just arrived! You are tired!"

"No, really, I'm fine," Hiccup tried to argue, "I'm just—,"

"I said, you are _tired." _The old man pointed his cane in Hiccup's face, and this time Hiccup was positive he saw sparks fly from the knobby end. Hiccup's eyes suddenly drooped, his limbs felt like they were weighed down with heavy stones, and his head lolled forward. The world dimmed, and Hiccup barely registered falling to the ground before everything went black.

* * *

In the light of the evening sun that just barely lit the drizzling forest, a large stone rolled to the spot the old wizard and the strange boy had disappeared. Other stones—or what appeared to be stones—rolled after the first, stopping in a circle. A moment later, the stones unfurled to reveal short, stubby creatures whose skin resembled that of the mossy rocks they once impersonated.

"I told you, I _told you _he's up to no good! That old crazy wizard has been stealing animals for who-knows-_what_ reasons and now he's got himself a human kid and a freaking _dragon!"_ one of them exclaimed, worry shown plain on his face.

"We didn't know for certain; you know the Ancient Truce between Trolls and Wizards, we don't interfere with each other for good reason and I didn't want to jump to conclusions," another said, looking grim.

"But you saw how he behaved with those two, though!" the first troll gestured wildly, "He's up to no good! And something's going to happen to that poor kid and his dragon! And that dragon—you know how wizards are with dragons, and how valuable they are to them! That species of dragon was the rarest I've ever seen! We can't let the wizard use a Night Fury for his own selfish means!"

"And the way that dragon was so protective of the human child," Another, female troll spoke in awe, "I'd never seen a bond like that between a dragon and a human before… I wonder if the human possessed any magical abilities."

"I sensed no magic about him," an older troll said gruffly, "But Terc is right, we need to retrieve that human from the wizard's grasp. We all know how… _unstable_ that wizard is. We just need to do it before something happens to that child…"

"What does that wizard even _do_ to the animals he catches?" a younger troll asked, "I've seen him lay traps and bring the animals he catches to one of his cottages, and judging by the noises that come from that cottage he definitely isn't catching them for his dinner. But I've never seen what he actually _does_ with them."

"Neither have we, it's part of the truce trolls and wizards made, to stay out of each other's business," The old troll replied. "But that human and his dragon are in danger. The truce did mention if one thinks the other is causing harm or wreaking havoc, they can step in if the situation calls for it. I believe this is a necessary cause—We must save that human and dragon before harm can befall them… I just hope we aren't too late…"


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

Hiccup awoke to a strange cacophony of noises. There were chittering, croaking, braying, barking and squeaking noises, all reverberating in his ears.

He groaned, blinking his eyes open. All that swam in his vision were shapes, blurry and unfocused He felt lethargic and dizzy, as if he'd been sick and asleep the whole day, completely drained of energy. He slowly blinked again, trying to clear his cloudy vision. Strange shapes and figures swarmed before his eyes, and there was a soft red glow somewhere nearby, radiating warmth. He blinked again, the shapes becoming more defined by the moment.

Panic seized him as he suddenly remembered the events that had transpired moments ago—or was it hours? _Days?_ How long had he been asleep?! What had happened?! Where was he?! _Where was Toothless?! _

Hiccup sat bolt upright, his heart pounding wildly as he surveyed his surroundings.

He was in a small, cluttered cabin of some sort. There were no windows, or if there were they'd have all been covered up. The walls were filled from top to bottom with shelves full of vials and bottles of this and that, and pots filled with different plants littered the room—but the thing that caught Hiccup's eye was that the cottage was filled to the brim with different cages, each holding a different type of animal. Some sat on shelves, many hung from the rafters above him, and others lined the walls, stacked on top of each other.

A split second later, Hiccup realized that he, too, was in a large cage next to the wall. If he hadn't been panicked before, he sure was now.

"Toothless! TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup cried, his dragon's safety the first thing to enter his mind. There was a weak warble nearby, and when Hiccup looked to his left he realized Toothless was also in a cage just next to his. It was larger than the others of course, and was completely covered by other cages filled with creatures, which was why Hiccup hadn't noticed him there before.

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief, crawling over to his dragon and reaching a hand through the bars. Toothless sniffed Hiccup's hand and gave Hiccup a gummy grin, but his eyes drooped lethargically. A moment later Toothless dropped his head back down, his eyes closing.

Hiccup's stomach was in multiple knots.

"Okay," he breathed, "I take it back. The universe really _does_ hate me. Not barely a day after I run away, I get caught in this giant storm, then land on an island which is inhabited by a crazy lunatic who likes to cage people and… oh gods, I hope I'm not on the menu tonight or something," he shuddered, suddenly thinking back to those legends Johann liked to tell him where a traveller was often tricked into entering a witch's home, stuck in a cage and then promptly eaten for supper. Those stories though usually ended with a young hero tricking the witch, or troll or whatever, ending in the monster's demise. At the very least outsmarting it and getting away.

Perhaps that was what Hiccup had to do, if he was to get he and Toothless out of there.

A strange noise shrilled from one of the cages next to Hiccup on his right. He looked up in surprise, having never heard that noise before. It… it had almost sounded like some sort of cross between a cat's meow and an owl's hoot.

In the cage next to him was an owl of some sort. He couldn't quite see it's full body because of the creature's angle and the dim light of the fire, but he was quite sure it was one of the strangest owls he had ever seen. It had the coloring of a barn owl, but on top of its head were two large, pointed ears. Catlike ears.

Hiccup inched closer to the edge of his cage, trying to see the strange owl more clearly. The owl suddenly flapped in it's cage, extending its wings and turning its head to face Hiccup—and Hiccup yelped in shock.

The owl had four legs—_four legs!_

It's face resembled that of a cat, except where it's muzzle should have been there was a small beak protruding from its face. He suddenly noticed the tail—it was long and slinky, but covered with feathers. A cat's tail on an owl.

Hiccup stared at the abnormal creature, breathing hard, before tearing his eyes away and wildly started to look into the other cages.

They were _all. Abnormal_. How had he not noticed this before?!

In one cage on the ground, there was a small foxlike creature, but its fur was grey and it's snout shorter and rounder than it should have been. Its ears were long and floppy—much like that of a rabbit. _A_ _fox-rabbit?_ In another cage there was a raccoon… _something. _It looked to be crossed with some sort of deer, considering the antlers that jutted out of the top of its head, but it was much too small—whatever it was, it scared the _heck_ out of Hiccup.

From what he could make out in the other cages, there were frog-rabbits, seagull-mice, lizard-birds, fox-deer, deer-birds—all of them, all of the animals were some sort of combination of two completely different species.

In a panic, Hiccup quickly checked himself over, and was relieved to find he was normal. But the relief was short lived.

_Where's that old man?!_ he wondered, his heart racing, _what does he want with me? Is he going to make me half—half _something_, too?!_

It was no doubt that this was all the result of magic. The man was obviously some sort of witch or warlock, or perhaps the man was actually a troll in disguise!

However, with the exception of the many animals in different cages, the cabin was empty. The old man was nowhere to be found, for now.

Hiccup quickly tried to search for some sort of lock on his cage, something like a door—but he found none. He examined the bars of his cage on all sides, the roof, the floor, but there was no seam or any hint of a door. Magic? Probably. No—it was _definitely_ magic_. _

"Ohhh gods, oh gods, oh gods, oh gods—Odin please get me out of this," Hiccup begged to the sky as he patted his pockets for anything sharp that he could use, but there was nothing. Nor was there anything in his cage he might possibly use against these metal bars.

He yanked on the sides of his cage, hoping to find a weak spot, but to no avail. The bars were strong and unyielding. Hiccup stopped tugging and leaned against the back of the cage. He kicked the bars, hoping that would be more effective. He kicked, shoved, rattled, and even rammed the bars with his bony shoulders—but the result was the same. Nothing happened. The cage hadn't even moved slightly when he'd rattled against it, it was like it was nailed to the floor. That or Hiccup's bony physique just couldn't do anything to budge the cage a mere centimeter.

Sweat trickled down Hiccup's forehead and he glanced back into Toothless' cage. The dragon was snoring, his tongue lolling out.

"Useless reptile," Hiccup muttered, but couldn't stay angry at him. The warlock—troll—old man—_whatever _the hell he was probably had Toothless under a heavy spell so he couldn't try to break out. He tried to nudge Toothless' nose to wake him up, but the dragon merely snorted and tucked his head under his wing, continuing to sleep deeply. Hiccup worriedly looked around. He couldn't just wait here for the old man to come back. He had to find a way to get out of—

Before he could finish the thought, the door of the cottage opened and in came the old man. The owl was still perched on his shoulder, and in the old man's hand was a basket with an assortment of plants, herbs and other things.

Hiccup tilted his head, trying to peek past the man's shoulder outside. It was dark outside. Probably nightfall… Again, he wondered how long he'd been unconscious, but was immediately brought back to attention when the old man set down his basket of plants and shuffled towards a shelf, gathering different vials and bottles. Hiccup slowly inched away from the front of his cage, hoping to put as much space as possible in between himself and his kidnapper. He ended up pressing his back against the cage, pressing hard against it as if willing to become part of the cage itself to avoid being seen.

The old man paid him no attention anyway, though, as he stuck some plants into a pot by the fire. He was muttering to himself, rather grouchily. The owl on his shoulder squawked again, flapping off and landing on the mantle of the fireplace.

"Not perfect, damaged, can't work with something damaged," the old man was muttering. "Not going to work, not going to work… unless…" The blue eyes suddenly flashed in Hiccup's direction and he flinched. He didn't like that look he was being given.

"Where am I?" he tried to ask in the bravest voice he could muster. "Why did you bring me here? Why am I in a cage? And who even are you?!"

The man said nothing, simply continuing to mutter to himself rather incoherently. Hiccup opened his mouth to ask again, when the old man let out a cry of excitement and dug through one of his shelves. He took out a small vial of clear liquid. A look of feverish excitement overcame the man's face, and he approached, not Hiccup's cage, but Toothless'. Fear jolted through Hiccup and he launched forward, gripping the bars hard.

"Hey, get away from him!" he yelled, "Get _away_ from him!"

The man paid him no attention again, and moved some of the smaller cages out of the way. He reached through Toothless' cage and lifted out the dragon's tail. Hiccup realized his prosthetic tail was gone, as well as the saddle.

"I said, _get away from him!"_ Hiccup screamed through the bars of his cage.

The man popped open the vial of liquid and, to Hiccup's horror, a few drops of it fell onto his tail. A golden light flashed through the air. Hiccup shut his eyes, tears brimming but he would not let them fall. What was he _doing _to his dragon?! What was going on? What was the bright golden light?

The light faded as quickly as it had appeared, and Hiccup blinked his eyes open. He didn't want to look at his dragon, but he forced himself to.

He nearly choked in surprise.

Toothless' tail… it… it was _whole._ Where one of his fins had been completely ripped off, courtesy of Hiccup and his net's contraption, there was now a new, fully regrown black fin. Hiccup's jaw dropped.

The man… had _healed_ Toothless?!

"You… you healed him," Hiccup whispered in amazement. "You… why? Why did you… _how_ did you…"

The man once again ignored him, capping the bottle of liquid and storing it in his pocket. A strange smile had grown on the old man's face, one that made Hiccup's insides squirm in fear. He was extremely confused; the old man had just healed his dragon which Hiccup had thought impossible, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something was still incredibly and undeniably _wrong_ with this man. But why heal Toothless? What would make him want to fix his tail?

The owl on the mantle gave a screech that made Hiccup nearly jump out of his skin for the second time that day. He glanced at the owl, which was agitatedly flapping its wings, then back at the old man. Hiccup jumped again. The old man was staring at him with an eerie smile.

"Boy and dragon, dragon and boy. Boy and dragon, dragon and boy," the old man muttered, "Perfect species, perfect bond, perfect health _hee-hee-hee_."

The blood drained from Hiccup's face.

Boy and dragon, dragon and boy? Perfect species… perfect bond…

Hiccup's eyes darted to the other cages, and he suddenly knew what was about to happen.

"No," he croaked, wanting to _scream_, but his throat was so tight with terror that he could hardly even make a sound.

The man started to cackle even louder than before, a raspy, half-cough, half-laugh that only added to Hiccup's horror.

Hiccup once again looked for any possible way he could get out of his cage, but he was stuck fast. His heart was beating a million miles an hour as he started to get an inkling of an idea of what the man wanted to do with him… with him and Toothless. He couldn't let that happen.

"Years… years, years, _years,_ I've spent. Spent I've years, years I've spent…" the old man was going into a frenzy as he gathered different things together and piled them on a table in the corner. He grabbed the pot hanging over the fire and poured out its contents into the flames, nearly extinguishing the fire. With a flick of his wrist and a snap of his fingers, though, the fire jumped back into life. He began to throw things into the pot, a leaf from that plant, the contents of three different vials, and dozens of other things Hiccup didn't catch because the old man was moving so fast.

The cauldron suddenly puffed a large cloud of silver smoke. The old man cackled and started to mumble incoherently once more. He took something small, black and round from his pocket—one of Toothless' scales!—and dropped it into the cauldron. The silver smoke turned an inky black. The man then approached Hiccup's cage, who immediately backed to the furthest corner away from him.

"W-what are you doing, get away from me!" Hiccup yelled, pressing his back against the wall, but the man pointed his staff at Hiccup. A red spark shot out at the end, and Hiccup felt a strong, invisible force pushing him away from the wall and towards the man. He struggled in vain, and a moment later his cheek was pressed uncomfortably against the bars of the cage, inches away from the old man's face. Hiccup shut his eyes tight. He could smell the man's rotting breath and fowl oder quite clearly from such close proximity, and both combined was enough to make Hiccup gag.

He felt a sharp tug on his head. The man had pulled out a couple of his hairs. Hiccup's eyes flew open in time to see the man dropping the hairs into the cauldron, and the smoke went from black to a deep, emerald green. Black flecks of ash flew around in the smoke, glistening like scales in the light of the fire.

The force holding Hiccup was suddenly released, and he fell forwards.

He coughed and straightened up, before realizing with a jolt that he was _no longer in the cage!_ He whipped his head up, ready to bolt at a second, but froze when he realized Toothless was still trapped.

He couldn't leave Toothless.

The old man snapped his fingers, and Toothless' cage suddenly started to move. The cages that had been sitting on and around it also magically scooted away, rearranging themselves in different places in the cottage. Toothless's cage rattled the floor, scooting along the rivets in the wood until it came to a complete stop in the middle of the room.

Hiccup desperately wanted to make a break for it, but he couldn't; not with Toothless still here. Would the man free Toothless, too, though? Would they have a chance?

The bars of Toothless' cage suddenly disappeared, and Hiccup felt a surge of hope—until an invisible force not unlike the one before shoved him forward, and he crashed into the cage with Toothless. The bars reappeared once more, trapping the two of them. Toothless continued to snore, still heavily sedated by the old man.

"Toothless," Hiccup shoved at his dragon in desperation. "Toothless, _wake up. Wake up!_"

The dragon remained motionless. Hiccup cursed, turning back to the wizard, tears of hopelessness stinging his eyes, but he wouldn't give up.

"Hey!" He yelled, clutching the bars of the cage, "Let us go, we haven't done anything to you! Please—I'll, I'll even make you a deal!" he said, thinking quickly. He had no idea what kind of deal he was trying to offer, but he needed to do _something_; anything to stall what the man was about to do.

The old man continued to be tone deaf to Hiccup's cries, giving the cauldron a tap with his cane. The cauldron suddenly tipped over, and glowing, emerald green liquid spilled out of it.

The liquid did not spread on the ground like how liquid normally should have acted. Instead, it weaved through the ground like a snake, in the direction of Hiccup and Toothless. Hiccup backed away as far as possible from the green liquid as it traveled into the cage. His heart was racing a million miles an hour.

He wished this were all a dream, that he was still back on Berk—or even in the woods just outside, where they had camped, and he had merely fallen asleep from the exhaustion of traveling and was having quite the crazy dream. But when the liquid came in contact with his foot, he knew for certain that this was no dream.

It burned like fire, and Hiccup had to clench his teeth to keep from crying out. He gripped the edge of the cage, terrified at what was about to happen.

_Odin save me!_ Hiccup prayed, as all of the liquid surged into the cage. It seemed to have a mind of its own as it crawled _up_ Toothless' body and Hiccup's legs. Hiccup let out a scream of pain as he felt the liquid seep through his clothes and burn his skin. Toothless moved, finally, opening his yellow eyes and letting out a pained, hoarse warble. The liquid was hurting him, too.

_Why is he doing this?!_ Hiccup wanted to scream, but all that came out was the sound of agony. His body was on fire. It traveled up his torso, and Hiccup felt the potion working inside of him, as he felt his insides practically liquify. He didn't know how he did, but somehow Hiccup found the energy to crawl over to Toothless and wrap his arms around his large reptilian neck. Tears streamed down his face from the pain. The terrible, immense pain.

_I'm sorry, Toothless,_ he wanted to say to him. This was all his fault. He had dragged his dragon out here, thinking they would have a fresh start at a new life, but now they had found themselves in at the mercy of a madman.

_Make it stop, please make it stop, please! Help me! _

"_GYAAAAAAAAHH!" _Hiccup screamed as the last of the liquid seeped up his neck, down his arms, and over his head completely enveloping him.

Hiccup felt in that moment extreme, blinding white-hot pain and then… he knew no more.

* * *

Hiccup hurt all over. His limbs ached, his head ached, his chest ached; _everything_ ached. It was the pain that had woken him from his deep sleep. In his groggy, half asleep state of mind he vaguely wondered if he had fallen off of Toothless the other day, which might be the reason why he felt he'd been beaten with a cane by a hundred elders.

"_Pssst!"_ Hiccup cringed; the soft noise of whatever that was hurt his tender eardrums. He wanted to ignore it and roll back over and fall asleep again, but his limbs felt like wood. He was far too stiff and sore to move even his hand, much less his body. "_Psssst!" _

_Perhaps if I ignore it, it will go away,_ Hiccup thought tiredly. He wanted to do nothing else but sleep right now.

"_He's not waking up, I vote we use more extreme measures than just whispering 'psst' in his ear."_ A new voice spoke up, in a hushed tone.

"_Let's throw a rock at his head!" _another voice offered.

"_What, no! Bad idea!"_

"_A small pebble?"_

"…_a small pebble might work. Loui, gimme that little pebble."_

A small blunt object suddenly made contact with Hiccup's temple and he flinched, finally opening his eyes. All he saw was a dark, very low ceiling above him. Strange… where was he? Hiccup turned his head slightly to the right, and his eyes caught sight of bars surrounding him. Bars? He was in a cage?

Events of what had happened seemingly moments ago suddenly flashed in Hiccup's memory and he remembered where he was.

Cages.

Strange animals.

A crazy old wizard.

_Toothless._

Hiccup gave a strangled yelp and sat up, but immediately regretted it as his body responded with searing pains and aches as he moved. He gasped, wincing, clutching his stomach. He felt like he could hurl right now. His back, especially his shoulders, felt… _weird_. It hurt, just like every other part of his body, but it also felt strange and quite ... heavy.

What had happened before he blacked out? It was so hazy… he remembered being in a cage—he still was in the cage, actually—and Toothless was there… and the old man… but then what?

"He's awake!" whispered a voice. Hiccup blinked open his eyes again, trying to see through tears of pain. He glanced around, confused.

"Who—who said that?" he whispered, his voice hoarse and raspy. His jaw was stiff and his tongue felt, much like the rest of him, like wood.

"Us! Over here!" another voice whispered. Hiccup slowly turned his head, careful with his extremely tender neck, and faced the speakers. His eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped in shock. Immediately Hiccup tried to scoot away but something big and bulky behind him blocked his way. He ignored whatever it was as his attention was completely captured by the people before him, just outside the cage.

Only, they weren't people.

They were creatures—strange, strange creatures that Hiccup had never seen before in his life. The tallest of them stood two, maybe three feet high, their skin was grey and mottled, and their faces bore comically large noses and very round ears. They almost appeared to be nothing but a face, as their bodies were incredibly small in proportion to their heads. Their hair was like long blades of grass, and their clothing appeared to be made out of a green material, almost like moss. There were six, maybe seven total, and all of them were staring at Hiccup with large, curious eyes.

"Hello!" one of them said cheerfully, but was quickly shushed by the others.

"Be quiet, you don't want to wake up the wizard!" another hissed to the one that had greeted Hiccup.

"But he's in the cottage next to this one," the first one frowned, "He can't hear us."

"Doesn't mean he doesn't use magic to listen in for intruders!" the second one shot back. "This is a very important rescue mission, we're trying to _not_ get spotted here!"

"Are you alright?" A third one whispered to Hiccup, ignoring the two bickering creatures and looking quite worried for Hiccup's well being. It was hard to tell, but Hiccup was quite sure this one was a female. Hiccup swallowed.

"I… I think so… I'm just.. uh… wh-what are you…?"

"Oh, we're trolls!" the female whispered brightly. Hiccup's hopefulness that had just started to perk up dropped like a stone as he flinched back.

_Trolls?_ Like the kind that stole away little children who didn't behave, or took your socks?

The trolls seemed to notice Hiccup's sudden change in demeanor, and some rolled their eyes.

"Oh, I get it, I get it, you've only been told about how ugly and vicious we are, and how we steal away naughty kids or eat goats who like to cross bridges," a large one huffed, "It was just _one_ goat."

"That's not what he needs to hear right now!" the female hissed, before turning back to Hiccup with an apologetic expression, "Listen, sorry about him; but we're here to _help_ you! We're going to break you out of this cage and get you as far away from the wizard as possible."

Hiccup could hardly believe his ears.

"You're… going to _help_ me?" he whispered. "Why?"

"Because that's what we do! Before, we pretty much ignored what the wizard did, and kept our distance; part of an ancient truce between trolls and wizards; but it wasn't until recently that we discovered what he was really doing with all these animals," the female troll explained. "And by recently, I mean… just now when we came in here to rescue you. When we noticed he had a human in his grasp, we realized we should probably help you out because we know that wizard to be quite… unstable… only… " she trailed off, a somber expression on her face as she glanced at something behind Hiccup for a moment. "I'm so very sorry we couldn't get to you sooner…" she whispered tenderly.

Hiccup frowned, wanting to ask what she meant by that, but the female had turned her attention to the cage. "Loui, what do you make of these cages?" she asked.

"Well, the one holding the kid is especially strong, which isn't surprising, considering he's, well—you know—but…" the troll named Loui tapped his chin thoughtfully, "I bet… if I could just… Oi, Norb, help me out here." A troll with an especially large nose, Norb, perked up from munching on a leaf. "Get on the other side of the cage, see if you can help me with the vanishing charm."

"On it." Norb walked around to the other side of the cage, and Hiccup's eyes followed him, to be stopped when he noticed a large black something blocking his view. His eyes narrowed and he turned his head more.

It was a wing. _Toothless,_ Hiccup thought in relief, turning around fully to see his dragon.

Only, the wing moved with him when he turned. Hiccup stopped short, staring at the wing. His heart started to pound as another memory entered his mind, as he remembered what that wizard was going to do to he and his dragon. He remembered a glowing, emerald green liquid seeping up his body…

A pool of dread began to form in the pit of his stomach. Hiccup's eyes slowly, fearfully, followed the edge of the wing as it trailed nearer to him, then up ... and _connected… to his shoulder._

Hiccup screamed as he grabbed the ink black wing in his hand, to see if he really was right and the wing was a part of him, then realized that he could actually _feel_ what the wing touched! It _was_ a part of him! The wizard—he had made Hiccup a half-something, too!

No… not _just_ a half something, as Hiccup looked to the right and saw another jet black wing connected to his other shoulder, and a long tail protruding from just above his rear. He recognized that tail, those wings.

_Toothless. _

Hiccup's jaw was hanging open as a silent scream escaped him. He stared at his tail, his wings. _Toothless'_ tail and wings.

Hiccup's head started to spin round in circles, as he looked at the rest of his body. His hands; they were larger than they used to be and jet black claws jutted out from where his fingernails had been. Pale human skin still showed, but around his hands, mostly on his fingers and on the back of his hands were small black scales, growing larger and further apart the higher up his arm they traveled. A terrified dry sob heaved from Hiccup's gut as he stared at himself.

_Odin, what had happened to him? _Why _had this happened to him? _

He was vaguely aware of a voice speaking somewhere in the distance, but he ignored it as he continued to stare at his disfigured hands. At some point he'd started to hyperventilate as he stared in shock at his body. _Toothless' body._

Hands suddenly grabbed his face, and Hiccup found himself nose to nose with the female troll.

"Calm down, _calm down,_" the female troll was saying. "I know this is hard right now and you don't know what's going on, but you need to freak out _later_. We're going to get you out of here, okay? Stay calm, we got some of the bars on the cage to disappear, and we need to go _now. _Can you walk? Stand? You don't have to speak, just nod your head yes or no. Could you manage to walk?"

Hiccup blinked slowly as his brain processed her words, then slowly nodded his head. The troll nodded back. "Good," she said, "Then, quietly, crawl towards us out of the cage."

Hiccup did what he was told and followed the female troll with slow movements. Some of the bars on one side of the cage had disappeared, and would have been enough for Hiccup to go through, originally. But as his shoulders slipped past the bars, the thick, black wings became painfully tightened as they tried to squeeze through the small space. Hiccup squirmed, trying to push himself through, but the more he moved, the more he realized he was getting stuck and the more painfully the bars squeezed his—Toothless'—wings. His heart began to race as he worried that maybe he wouldn't make it out in time, maybe the wizard would come back, maybe he would never get out of this mess!

"Hold on, hold on, don't panic," the troll named Loui said as Hiccup started to hyperventilate again. "Deep breaths, calm down. Norb, help me out again, we need two more bars gone."

Hiccup gulped and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. His nails—claws—dug into the wood floor as he waited for the trolls to work their magic and create a bigger hole for Hiccup to crawl through.

_Magic._ The word ran through Hiccup's mind like lightning as another flare of hope surged through him. The trolls had _magic!_ Perhaps they could fix this, perhaps they could reverse whatever spell the wizard had created!

"Got it!" Norb cheered, and the pressure around Hiccup released, enabling him to crawl through. He realized, when he glanced around the cottage, that the cage he'd been in was still in the center of this strange little cottage, from where the wizard had moved it from last night… or _had_ it been last night? Time was disorienting, and since there were no windows, he couldn't tell what time of day, or night, it was.

Hiccup moved to stand up, but a wave of dizziness overcame him and he stumbled, crumpling to his knees. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the vertigo to pass.

"Can you stand?" he heard the female ask again. Hiccup slowly shook his head.

"He can't stand, we'll have to carry him," he heard one of them whisper.

"I—I'm—uerghh…." Hiccup felt a wave of nausea hit him and he clutched his gut again.

"This way!" One of the other trolls waved to them, and Hiccup saw he was standing next to, not the door, but a hole in the floor of the cottage where some of the wood flooring had been removed. It was large, thankfully. He just might be able to fit through it, but the idea of moving at the moment did not appeal to Hiccup. He closed his eyes again, breathing deeply.

"That's it lad, just breath slowly," the tallest troll said in a gruff but kind voice. "Just relax, we'll carry you through." Hiccup could only nod, and he felt himself being lifted by small hands and carried across the room. Hiccup felt his world swim and fatigue washed over him once more.

The world suddenly felt like it had turned upside down, but when he opened his eyes he realized that was because they were carrying him down the hole head-first.

The ground leveled out, and Hiccup's nose brushed against something gritty and cold. The dirt ceiling of the small tunnel was brushing up against his face just slightly, but he was too tired to even think about complaining. He just wanted to get out of there.

* * *

The door to the small cabin opened, and the old wizard, Xenophilius Rastemund, shuffled out. A large brown owl with haunting green eyes was perched on a small post not two yards away from the two conjoined cottages. It sat calmly as it watched the old man shamble towards the second cottage, then, disinterested, turned its head intent on grooming its feathers.

A horrific shriek echoed through the air, startling the poor owl and ruffling its feathers. The wizard hobbled out of the second cottage in a frenzy.

"Gone, gone, gone, _gone, where has it gone?!"_ he cried, clutching his staff. "Gone, gone, he's gone, it's gone, my dragon boy, my dragon boy!" The owl flapped its wings again, hooting in annoyance. The wizard turned to the owl with wide blue eyes, then pointed his staff at the owl. The wizard made a strange, throaty incantation and white sparks flitted out of the end. The owl's eyes flashed white in a similar manner.

"_Find him,"_ the wizard commanded the creature. The owl immediately flapped off its perch, and began to scour the island.


	4. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

"_For the love of all things green and growing, give him some _space_!"_

"_But mamaaaa, he's part _dragon!"

"_Will his skin burn if I touch him with my fire crystal?"_

"_NO! Don't you even think about doing that, Torg, put that fire crystal away this instant before I confiscate it!"_

"_Pryn is sitting on his head."_

"_PRYN!"_

"_Sorry, his ears are just so—,"_

"_EVERYONE OUT! NOW! I MEAN IT! SCAT!"_

Not for the second time that day, Hiccup was woken by a barrage of voices—only this time they were much squeakier and louder than before. His eyes cracked open to see a bunch of tiny strange creatures scrambling away from a larger creature.

_Trolls. _He remembered now. He must have passed out while they were carrying him away from that… that place.

The older troll huffed in annoyance, her back facing Hiccup.

"Little pests, can't they see he's trying to _sleep_…" the troll muttered. Hiccup recognized her voice to be the same female troll from earlier. The female turned, sighing, and ambled to a small pot next to a mossy wall. Hiccup blinked. He was in a sort of cave, big enough for him to maybe sit up in. The walls of the cave were filled with indentions, like shelves, holding numerous clay pots and herbs. Hiccup realized a moment later he was lying on a soft bed of moss.

In all honesty, Hiccup didn't like the fact he had gone from one room full of magical pots and things to another. He slowly lifted his head, glancing around him. The entrance wasn't far away, and past it he could see a bright, morning sky.

"Oh, for the love of—they woke you, didn't they?" Hiccup jolted, realizing the female troll had caught sight of him wide awake.

"Oh, I—uh, no I was just—um… where am I?" Hiccup asked, his voice still hoarse.

"In my humble little apothecary, in this proud little village I call home. Don't worry, you'll be safe here," the female troll smiled at him kindly. "We have enchantments all around this village. The wizard won't be able to find you here."

Hiccup slowly tried to sit up, wincing from the pain his muscles screamed at him. A moment later he dropped back down, dizzy.

"Hey, now, take it easy, a conjoining curse is rough on a person," the troll advised. Hiccup blinked up at her, his brow furrowing. "It's a miracle you even survived."

"Um… wh-what exactly… what happened to me?" he whispered. "What did the wizard do to me? What—_why—why did he…" _

_Toothless. _Tears sprung up in his emerald eyes as the horror of his situation settled in Hiccup's mind.

"I don't know why, but I do know what," The troll said, laying a hand on Hiccup's forehead. "Just calm down, and I'll tell you what I know."

"Calm… calm _down_?" Hiccup croaked, "_Calm DOWN?_" He lurched to a sitting position, anger flaring up inside of him. "I've just been magically _conjoined_ with my dragon and I'm sporting wings and a tail and claws and—LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED TO ME! LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO _TOOTHLESS_! AND YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM _DOWN?" _he screamed, his voice raising higher and louder as he became more and more hysterical.

"Getting worked up won't change anything, so please just relax," the female troll said without batting an eye.

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO THAT?!" Hiccup screamed. He moved to stand up, but his head knocked against the low ceiling hard. He crumpled back to his knees, holding his head in his draconian hands.

Surprisingly soft hands gently took his own, squeezing them.

"There, there," the troll whispered. "It's all right. You have every right to be upset. Perhaps I was being a bit brash. If you need to let it out, let it out. It's all right… It's all right…"

"Can you—," Hiccup swallowed, lifting his head, "Can you fix this? Can you… change us back to normal? Toothless and I?"

The female troll's face fell slightly, and slowly she shook her head.

"I… _I_ can't," she said softly. "A conjoining curse is… extremely complicated and powerful. And _rare_. The only person I know who might be able to help you would be our village elder. He might not be able to change you back either, but he might know of something or someone who could."

Hiccup felt his hope return like a small bubble; fragile and shaking, waiting to be popped, but it was there. His mind's eye returned to the wizard, and all those animals he'd captured and conjoined…

"Why did he do it?" he asked softly, his green eyes searching the troll's grey face. "Why…"

"I don't know for certain, but all of us trolls know that wizard is… rather unstable. He was exiled here nearly thirty years ago, most likely because of his madness, but we never knew the true reason."

"Oh…" Hiccup swallowed, "What—what… what exactly _is_ a conjoining curse? What does it do?"

"I'm afraid I'm not one to answer that question in full detail, the knowledge I have of that curse is limited. If you want to know all about the curse, I suggest asking our elder."

"I see… can I see your village elder?"

"Soon, I promise. How do you feel?" the female troll asked. Hiccup rubbed his arm.

"Still… sore. Really, really sore all over, and now my head hurts," he said, rubbing the top of his head where it had hit the low ceiling.

"Here, I've got something that will make you feel better," the troll started to dig through her assortment of pots and vials, mixing them in a small bowl. Hiccup felt his stomach twist in knots at the prospect of drinking a potion, especially after his last ordeal with one, but he realized he had no reason to not trust her. All she had done was help him, and the only thing he had to go by about trolls were the stories he'd been told of since his youth—which, so far, weren't very accurate. Perhaps, he thought, trolls were also like dragons. Misunderstood and misrepresented.

"This will make you feel better," the troll held out a small stone cup of a strange chunky liquid that gave off a rather unpleasant odor. Hiccup immediately recoiled.

"What is that?" he asked, wrinkling his nose.

"Nork Root, goat milk, Bumry berries, and a bunch of other plants and herbs you probably wouldn't know of. You're smelling the berries, they don't smell very nice when they're crushed, but they'll help you with your aches and pains," the troll smiled. "Drink it and I promise you'll feel better." Hiccup hesitantly took the cup and put it to his lips, taking a small sip. He immediately gagged and spat out the small amount that had landed on his tongue, completely disgusted.

"That tastes like rotten fish mixed with dirty socks," he coughed, wiping his mouth.

"Do you want to feel better?" the troll asked, her hands on her hips.

"Well, yes, but—,"

"Then drink. Plug your nose if you have to, you won't feel better by not drinking it. As my ol' Grammie said, 'The more you complain, the more you'll feel pain.'"

"Your grandmother sounds nice," Hiccup muttered under his breath before lifting the drink to his lips again. He took a deep breath and threw his head back, gulping down the contents as quickly as possible with his eyes screwed shut. A few seconds later the cup was on the ground and Hiccup felt very close to throwing up again.

"Very good! See? Not so bad," the troll smiled, taking the cup and setting it aside. Hiccup gagged again.

"Yeah, sure—_cough—_not so bad," he swallowed, the horrid taste still in his mouth.

"By the way, I never introduced myself properly," the troll said, putting small pots back where they had come from on their shelves. "My name is Prui."

"Oh… nice, nice to meet you," Hiccup said awkwardly. Prui smiled, dusting her large hands off her mossy garb.

"You're probably hungry, aren't you?" she asked. Hiccup's stomach churned uncomfortably at the thought of food.

"Um… actually I think I'm good," he muttered.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm not hungry," he rubbed his queasy stomach.

Suddenly a small stone rolled into the apothecary. It bumped against Hiccup's tail.

No, _Toothless'_ tail, not his, he corrected himself at once.

The stone came to a stop. Hiccup reached over to pick it up when suddenly the stone _unfurled_, and he found himself facing another much smaller troll. He jerked his hand back in surprise, staring at the little creature.

"Hi!" the little troll waved, "I'm Pryn!"

"Pryn, I told you to wait outside!" Prui scolded the little troll without giving Hiccup a chance to reply.

"But he's awake now, and I wanted to talk to him!" Pryn whined.

"He needs his space, go play with the other—oh for the _love_ of…" Prui had to hold in whatever curse that had almost escaped her mouth, for she found herself facing at least five other little trolls, all who were crowded behind Pryn.

"Pleaaaaaase can we talk to it?" one of the smaller trolls pleaded.

"It's a _he_, not an it!" another shot back, "Can I pet his tail?"

"I wanna touch his wings!"

"What's your name?" Pryn was looking at Hiccup with wide, curious brown eyes. Hiccup hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Um… Hiccup," he said. "My name's Hiccup."

"Isn't 'Hiccup' the name they give human runts?" the troll that had asked to touch his tail spoke up.

"Torg, don't be so rude!" a third elbowed Torg.

"I was just asking," Torg shrugged.

"Ignore him, my name is Vyri! " The one that had elbowed Torg smiled.

"I made this bracelet for you!" Pryn piped up, holding out a small collection of sparkling crystals and gems strung together awkwardly on a piece of twine.

"_We _made the bracelet, I helped," Vyri huffed indignantly.

"You only found the two emerald pieces, I still _made_ it!" Pryn shot back.

"Hey, hey, kids _please,"_ Prui raised her voice to be heard above the loud chatter, "Hiccup needs his _rest_, dear ones. Come back at another time."

"Can I show him the bracelet that I made him first?" Pryn whined. "I worked hard on it."

"Alright, but the rest of you _go._ And don't come back until I say you can!" Prui shooed the rest of the little ones out of the little cave, all of them squeaking and chattering. Pryn held up the small bracelet to him, and Hiccup gingerly took it.

"Thanks," he said softly, studying the little crystals. Pryn beamed.

"The red ones are fire crystals, I thought you might like them because you're half dragon," she said proudly. Hiccup felt his insides clench, but he gave the little troll a tight smile.

"Okay, Prui, that's enough now. Time to go," Prui ushered Prui away from Hiccup and out of the medicine cave. Once alone, Hiccup glanced down at the bracelet. It really was pretty, but…

_Half dragon. _

The words echoed in his mind. Hiccup's claw-like hands curled around the bracelet, pain lancing through his heart as the nausea returned.

"Here," Prui took the bracelet from him. "I'm sorry... You know how children can be. She meant well, though."

"Yeah," Hiccup said shortly, looking away with a scowl. Prui looked at him sympathetically, walking over and patted his leg.

"May I ask you what you were doing here on this island?" she asked. "Where is your family?"

Hiccup gave a small start at the mention of his family. His heart sunk like a stone.

"Berk," he whispered, looking away. Prui raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Berk? Isn't that place famous for fighting dragons?" she asked. Hiccup let out a humorless scoff.

"It sure is."

Prui studied him carefully.

"That dragon…"

"I don't. Want. To talk. About it," Hiccup said through gritted teeth, his hands clenching into fists.

"I'm sorry," Prui said at once, instantly making Hiccup feel guilty. He grimaced, glancing at her.

"I… I'm sorry," he croaked. "I just…" tears swam in his eyes. "I just want this curse to be reversed, for Toothless to be okay. I…"

"Ah, the boy is awake."

Hiccup jumped, startled by the sudden unfamiliar voice. In the entrance of the cave stood an old troll with probably the biggest nose in the whole village. He shuffled forward, followed by several other adult trolls that Hiccup vaguely recognized as the ones who helped to rescue him.

"Elder Morg," Prui greeted him with a smile. "How do you do?"

"My bones quake. There's going to be another storm, soon," the elder replied, stopping by Hiccup's foot. He looked up at Hiccup, surveying him carefully. "How do you feel, young one?"

"I…" Hiccup glanced at Prui, who nodded encouragingly. "I feel sick," he said, turning back to the troll elder. "Really sick. And still sore…" although now that he said that, many of his aches and pains had lessened greatly. Perhaps that strange concoction was useful after all.

"Mmm, nausea is unsurprising when dealing with a conjoining curse to the degree you were subjected to," the elder sighed. He took Hiccup's hand and studied it carefully. "It is amazing you even survived."

"Can it be reversed?" Hiccup whispered, daring to even hope. The elder did not answer for a while, still studying his palm as if he could read into Hiccup's very soul with it.

Finally, he cupped Hiccup's hand with the other and patted it gently.

"Maybe," he said. "But… highly unlikely. The only one I know who could have the power to reverse this is our king, but he lives far, far away from here. And even then, I do not know if he would have the power to reverse such change to this magnitude. This was no simple curse that was placed on you, this was a spell of permanent transformation. Such spells bind to the body so deeply, it is ingrained into the very fabric of your being," he explained softly.

A block of ice had formed in Hiccup's stomach, radiating a cold he'd never felt before. He swallowed hard, fighting a lump in his throat.

"Is my dragon dead?" he croaked, unable to keep the question down anymore. "Is Toothless dead?"

The elder's eyes saddened.

"I'm afraid so," he whispered. Hiccup bit down hard on his tongue to keep himself from sobbing, but he couldn't stop trembling. Prui quickly rushed over and rubbed his back, trying to comfort him, but Hiccup hardly noticed.

"Such… dark magic," the elder continued, "Combining two bodies in such a way… combining the body is one thing, but it is the mind where the battle must be won. Two consciousnesses cannot exist in one body, so either one must willingly release or both must fight for it. Often, both die."

Hiccup let out a strangled sob, pressing his hand to his mouth to try to muffle the sound.

"Elder Morg, please, the boy has been through enough," Prui pleaded.

"If—if the curse was reversed, could Toothless come back?" Hiccup croaked thickly, needing to know.

Elder Morg looked sadly at him.

"No magic can raise the dead," he said softly. "Even if your bodies were separated, I'm afraid nothing could bring your dragon back."

Hiccup closed his eyes, feeling close to fainting. He could hear Prui ushering the elder out, but he didn't care.

He didn't care about anything anymore.

He felt _numb._ Was he even crying? Tears were still streaming down his face, but no sobs rose with them.

His best friend… Toothless… he was _gone…_

* * *

The owl stared at the dome of magic surrounding the valley that was home to the trolls. Its feathers ruffled as it surveyed everything, nothing escaping its sight.

It knew the boy had come here. This was where the trolls were hiding him. His master would be arriving soon…

* * *

"Hiccup, please, try to eat something," Prui urged, nudging a bowl of hot broth towards him, but Hiccup refused to acknowledge her. "Hiccup," she sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know… I know you're suffering. I know you're in pain. Just eat a little bit for me, alright? Then I'll leave you alone.

Hiccup stared at the cave wall, still not replying to her.

Prui gave a sharp jab to Hiccup's shoulderblades. He yelped in pain, finally sitting up and glared at her.

"Eat," she said sternly. "If you eat, then I'll leave you alone. But if you don't eat, I'll continue being a pest. Understand?"

Sourly, Hiccup grabbed the bowl of broth and gulped it down, not caring that it was hot. He finished it in seconds and slammed the bowl down.

"Now leave me _alone," _he snarled.

"Alright," she took the bowl and walked off with it. Hiccup stared after her before slumping back on his bed of moss, feeling sick of himself and everything.

It was as if his mind couldn't accept the fact that Toothless was dead. His best friend… gone. But every time he even glanced at his own body, he was forcibly reminded of the horrible truth, staring him in the face.

Toothless was gone and he was never coming back.

He would never be able to return home, not like this. Not as a monster.

He would never see his father again. He could never travel the world like this, either.

It was then that he realized he had never truly meant to leave home forever. Not really. Yes, he had run away… but a small part of him had known he would go back some day.

But now… if his own people saw him like this, they would hunt him down, think he was a _demon_ of some sort…

What was the point of life, then? Why eat? Why _breathe? _

A familiar owlish shriek pierced his ears, making his hair stand on end. He sat bolt-upright, his heart pounding.

"He's back," he gasped.

"Settle down, he's not—"

"He's back! That's his owl!" Hiccup cried, interrupting Prui. "He's here!"

Before Prui could answer, a troll suddenly rolled in the apothecary.

"The wizard is at our borders," he said, looking alarmed. "And he's taking down our defenses!"

"What?!" Prui gasped. "Hiccup, stay here! We're going to try to stop him," she commanded and quickly rolled out of the cave with the other troll.

Hiccup's panic skyrocketed. He couldn't just sit here!

He crawled out of the cave and scrambled to his feet, looking around wildly. He took in the strange almost circular valley that was the troll's home, the different caves that jutted out of the hillsides, before spotting the wizard at the far end, waving his staff.

A strange rippling effect seemed to be traveling through the air, emanating from his staff. Hiccup stumbled back and tripped over the large black tail and he sprawled on the ground.

"Get back in the cave!" a troll shouted at him. "You need to hide!"

But suddenly the sky seemed to split open. A blinding white crack running above their heads, and then fading away.

"The defense spell is down!" Hiccup heard someone shriek, but before he could even move, the wizard was in front of him. Just as he had appeared before, out of thin air.

He looked down at Hiccup with a mad gleam in his eyes.

"Thought you could escape from me, did you?" he wheezed. A troll barreled for him but was stopped by an invisible wall surrounding Hiccup and the wizard.

Hiccup was frozen solid, staring up at the old man as he trembled in fear.

"You are _perfect," _the wizard croaked. "You must be _preserved!_ You are _mine!_ Mine alone!"

He raised his bony finger at Hiccup, a strange light collecting around it.

"_MINE!"_

Something bright and powerful hit Hiccup's chest, knocking him flat on the ground. His whole body began to seize, every muscle bunching up. Agony filled Hiccup's body and he tossed his head back, but he was unable to scream. His lungs wouldn't work any more.

He forced his eyes to open, and he saw that the wizard had somehow teleported them back to his hut. Back in the place it had started, as if he had never even escaped.

He couldn't move. Every part of his body was locking into place, going _numb_.

He forced his hand up, trying to roll over to push himself up, but to his horror he saw something white crawling up his arm, until it completely coated it and locked it into place.

_He was being turned into stone. _

One eye suddenly went dark, and Hiccup felt the cold numbness crawl for his other eye, the last thing that was left. Slowly, his world went black, the last thing that he saw was the wretched, smiling grin of the wizard.


	5. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

What was that in his ears?

A drum?

It was loud enough to be one…

His body… it was growing less and less numb by the moment…

Hiccup felt awareness creep into his mind and he was filled with a wave of relief. The trolls! They had rescued him! They were reversing this stone curse!

The drumming sound he soon realized was his own heartbeat, loud and ringing in his ears. A few moments later, his lungs expanded, greedily gulping in the air.

His body collapsed, his arm thudding to his side. He felt so ungodly tired…

"P… Prui?" he rapsed, coughing dryly. His eyes fluttered open, hoping to see the trolls around him, or maybe even the cave of the apothecary.

But what greeted him was an inky black sky full with stars, and not a soul in sight.

Hiccup blinked, lifting his head and looking around.

He was in the middle of the forest, and covered head to toe in vines, not to mention a thick layer of dirt and grime. He frowned, ripping the overgrown vines off him. More magic from the wizard, no doubt…

The wizard.

He stiffened, looking around. Where was he?

There was no sign of him, but there was no sign of the trolls, either.

"Hello?" he called softly, squinting through the darkness.

A rustling to his left caught his attention and he turned. A stone was rolling towards him, making him sag in relief. "Prui? Is that you?" he croaked, forcing himself to stand on unsteady feet.

A troll unfurled, one he didn't recognized, but he felt relieved all the same. But then he paused.

The troll was looking at him… fearfully?

"Are you… Hiccup?" the troll squeaked in a nasally voice. Hiccup frowned but nodded.

"Where am I? Where's the wizard?" he demanded. The troll hesitated.

"Er… wait right there, I need to go back," he said.

"Wait—but the wizard could come back at any second!" Hiccup protested, looking around sharply.

"Uhhhh, the wizard's kinda… dead?" the troll replied hesitantly. Hiccup froze, whipping his head back to the troll in shock.

Dead? The wizard was _dead?_

Relief flooded him and he sagged, dropping to his knees.

"Thank Odin," he groaned. "Oh, thank the gods…"

"Y-you stay right there, I need to get Elder Pryn," the troll squeaked and quickly rolled off into the darkness. Hiccup hardly noticed them leave, that familiar numbness creeping in again, but he felt his mind start to whirl.

How long had he been turned to stone? How long had the wizard been dead? Why had he woken up in the middle of the forest? What had happened?

Half an hour seemed to pass, before the rustling of vines and twigs snapping caught Hiccup's attention again. He looked up, spotting at least a dozen rocks rolling towards him. They all unfurled a few feet away, staring at him with large, wonder-filled eyes.

Hiccup realized he recognized none of them. He squinted, wondering where Prui was, or any of the others that had helped rescue him before.

"Out of the way, old lady coming through," an old feeble female voice spoke up, and an old troll hobbled her way forward. She stopped before Hiccup, her aged face lined with wrinkles. "Well, may the gods pluck me up and skip me like a stone. You're _awake_."

Hiccup stared, an uneasy feeling growing in his gut.

"...Who are you?" he croaked.

"Oh, you probably don't recognize me," the elder smiled sadly. "Bless your heart… but to you, it's only been a few hours, hasn't it? You don't know how long you've been asleep."

"Who are you?" Hiccup demanded, his heart pounding.

"Pryn," the troll replied. "That small child who gave you the bracelet?"

Hiccup froze, his blood running cold.

No… it _couldn't_ be! She was so… _old!_

But… then what did this mean?

"How… h-how long was I turned to stone?" he croaked, trembling. Pryn sighed, slowly shaking her head.

"We trolls live a very, very long time… much longer than humans do," she said softly. "You must understand, Hiccup—,"

"HOW LONG?!" Hiccup bellowed.

"It's been over eight hundred years," Pryn said sadly. "It is the year 1832."

Hiccup heard, but didn't process. He stared at the troll, the words slowly spinning in his mind until he forced a laugh.

"You—you're joking right? This is a joke?" he croaked, shaking. "This has to be a joke."

"Help carry him to the village," Pryn instructed to the other trolls. "He's going to faint any second."

"Wait… you can't… I can't be…" Hiccup felt his head bob woozily, until his head lolled back and he indeed fainted.

* * *

Eight hundred years.

It was completely unfathomable.

It seemed like nothing but curveball after curveball had been thrown at Hiccup in the past twenty four hours. First, he was kidnapped. Then, his dragon was killed, and their bodies mutilated and conjoined in a horrific way. And now this.

Turned to stone for _eight hundred years_.

Were the gods punishing him for running away? Was this some sort of divine justice? As if he would have been able to return home before, but now it seemed as if _something_ was specifically making sure that _never_ happened. Like a nail in a coffin.

Nothing would _ever_ be the same again.

Dully, he stared into the bowl of soup that a troll had offered to him. He stared at the little strange noodles floating in the broth, not one ounce of hunger stirring within him. He felt numb, completely and utterly numb…

What did Berk look like, though? How had it changed in eight hundred years? He was scared to find out…

"Cheer up," the troll that had given him the soup said brightly. "It's not all bad!"

Hiccup gave him a look that quickly shut him up.

Not all bad. Yeah right.

Hiccup slowly sipped the soup without much hunger, wondering just what the hell he was going to do _now. _It wasn't as if Hiccup had been able to do much before, transformed the way he was. But at least before he'd _known_ that world. Now? He had no idea what the world was like, what had changed. A _lot_ could change in eight hundred years….

"Hiccup," a familiar voice broke the silence. Hiccup looked up to see Elder Pryn hobbling into the cave.

"Hey," he grunted.

"I do not know if there is a solution to… well, this centuries long sleep," Pryn said slowly. "But our king. I do know he would be able to fix your curse, at the very least. You could… be normal again. Try to start a new life."

Hiccup stared at her, not much hope lifting in his heart.

"Where do I find him?" he grunted.

"We know someone who will be more than happy to take you there," she smiled. She patted his arm. "Take all the time you need to rest, Hiccup. You've been through so much, _too_ much. No child should know the pain you—"

"Yes, thank you," Hiccup growled, turning away. "I get it. My life sucks, what else is new? It's always been this way. I"m named '_Hiccup', _aren't I? The screw up, the one always dealt a bad hand!"

Pryn sadly looked at him.

"I'll let you rest," she said, rolling away. Hiccup bit down a smart ass retort and stared down at the soup.

_Eight hundred years… _

The days slowly turned into weeks. And weeks, to months.

The trolls… were nice. They smiled at Hiccup, they made him feel welcome… but Hiccup's heart felt numb to it all.

It took him weeks to even leave the cave. He was scared to leave it, afraid of what could be beyond those rocky walls. Greif weighed him down like an anvil, but the only reason he didn't feel it in its entirety was the numbness in his heart, threatening to swallow him just as the stone curse had.

Nothing would ever be the same again. Darkness in his heart greeted him every day, to the point where he considered it an old friend now. The weight that the grief had in his soul made it nearly impossible to even do the simplest of tasks, such as eat or even get up to use the bathroom.

But the trolls had been patient with him.

Kind.

Understanding.

They had encouraged him to take just a few steps outside. And eventually, he had. The light of the sun had blinded him, but the warmth it brought… it was a welcome change to the cave he'd been lying in for a few weeks now.

Apparently, trolls did not bathe often, but they encouraged Hiccup to. Such a task seemed impossible to him, when he could hardly even find the energy to eat or do any other basic human function. So they had simply carried him to some hot springs and dunked him into the hot water.

That had sucked. But hey, he was clean. And the hot water had felt… nice.

They had brought new clothes for him, clothes that sometimes washed ashore on their island in chests from the sea. They were strange, foreign clothes. Smooth to the touch, unlike the roughness that was viking material. These were silky, pristine…

It was yet another change. But seeing as his old clothes were dirty, smelly, full of holes, and over eight hundred years old… well, he had to keep the new ones.

They encouraged him to eat as often as he could. Most days, Hiccup could hardly even bring himself to, but the trolls had been there, making sure he ate just a little bit to keep his strength.

They were so caring, to the point that Hiccup marveled where those stories had even come from. Why would someone make up horrible stories about such kind creatures?

He also had some other questions bubble up, as he grew more comfortable living with the trolls.

He had a vague idea of why the wizard had turned him into stone, but… what had broken the curse? Why had he even woken up at all?

He asked this to the troll elder one evening, as she came to visit and check upon him.

"Ah," she hummed. "Well, some spells work differently. What happened to you was a simple petrification spell. Such spells are usually meant to preserve things for long periods of time, but not keep them frozen forever. The spell… simply wore off," she explained.

Hiccup grimaced.

"Took a long time," he muttered.

"It did. It's a very effective spell," she agreed.

Hiccup picked at the scales on his arm, the two falling silent. Then, the elder spoke again.

"Do you still wish to go to the troll king?" she asked. Hiccup glanced up at her.

"Yeah," He muttered. "At some point, but…"

"But?"

"I just—what the hell am I supposed to do?" Hiccup croaked. "Even if he removes the spell, I can't go back home! Everyone I ever knew is _gone!_ Where will I even go? What's even the point?"

"The point is that perhaps you can have a chance to start your life anew," Pryn said softly, taking his hand and patting it. "Find a town, meet new people, start fresh."

"But I don't know anything about this world," he objected. "I don't know any customs, any sort of… of languages that people might speak today. I don't know what the world is like anymore," he croaked.

"You'll never know if you don't try," Elder Pryn said. "I can help you, you know. Understanding other languages is a simple spell."

"Another spell?" Hiccup growled.

"I understand your hesitance," she said patiently. "But magic… is simply a tool. Yes, it has the power to do horrible things, but…" she bent down to the earth, where her fingertips glowed. A small flower sprouted where the light had shone, growing faster than Hiccup had ever seen something grow. "Magic… can be used for much good, too," she said softly.

Hiccup stared at the flower, unable to push down the uneasy feeling that had risen inside of him. He felt sick to death of magic at this point.

He leaned back against the wall but winced in pain as the wings got in the way. They were difficult to relax with, basically two giant growths on his back that were completely and utterly useless.

"I just… want things to be somewhat normal," he whispered.

"For that, you need to travel to the Troll King, and that means getting out of the cave every once in a while. We have someone who can take you, though," the troll smiled. Hiccup sighed, and for once he felt like agreeing with her.

"Yeah," he murmured. "I think… I'm ready to go."

"Good," Pryn hummed happily. "I'll send Brom with you, to guide you to the Troll King once you get to the mainland."

Hiccup slowly nodded, his eyes drooping.

When the troll king separated their bodies… Toothless would still be dead. Hiccup would honor his body in the traditional way that vikings honored the dead, and with it… he hoped to honor the spirits of his father, and the rest of his tribe as well.

Another stab of pain entered his heart as he realized he had not been able to send his father off to Valhalla, as he had always thought he would when he was an old man. He wondered if his father had given up hope that Hiccup would return, if he thought he was dead. Had his father disowned him after he'd run away? Had he searched for him?

Hiccup spread his wings out a little as he laid down, trying to get somewhat comfortable.

"Have you ever thought about flyin' with them?" Brom, the medicinal troll, asked him brightly. Hiccup glanced at him with a deep glare.

"No," he said shortly.

"Why not?"

"Because—because they're _Toothless's_ wings, not mine," he growled.

"Well, they're kinda your wings, now—,"

"Brom, please," Hiccup snapped. "I'm not in the mood to talk about this."

"Okay, okay, fine," Brom shook his head. Hiccup sighed, getting up and crawling out of the cave. He needed to clear his head.

He straightened and marched down a path that was starting to grow somewhat familiar. He was greeted by trolls as he passed by, but he didn't answer their greetings, just wanting to be left alone for a while.

The forest had changed drastically in the eight hundred years. The last time he had seen the trees, they had been evenly spaced out, as if grown in an orchard. Now, the trees had grown to great sizes, and there were younger trees mixed in with the old. It looked much more haphazard and wild. Overgrown… like a forest should be.

He marched through the trees, Toothless's tail dragging behind him. It didn't even really look like his tail, it was skinnier than he remembered, not to mention the fact that there were _two_ fins on the end now, courtesy of the wizard healing him.

Hiccup sighed, the wings on his back rustling with his unease. He glanced at them, feeling nothing but pain as he stared. How could he even think to call those wings his own? They didn't belong to him.

Hiccup slumped on a stump, but yelped as he sat on the tail. He cursed, brushing it out of the way as he sat again. The damn thing always got in the way…

He yanked at some leaves from a nearby vine, tearing them up in his fingers.

He sat there for a while, thinking of nothing and everything. That familiar numbness was creeping into his soul again…

He hadn't realized he'd sat there for hours until the rays of dusk shone through the trees, hitting his eyes. He blinked, looking away from the light.

"Hiccup," a troll was rolling towards him. Niv, Hiccup was sure her name was. "Elder Pryn is looking for you."

"Coming," Hiccup sighed, slowly getting up. "Just… needed to clear my head," he said, though his head felt anything but clear.

The troll led him back to the village, where Elder Pryn was waiting for them.

"Are you up for travel, Hiccup?" she asked him. Hiccup slowly nodded.

He was ready to end this horrible curse.

"I'm ready."

"Good, follow me," Elder Pryn said, curling up and rolling off.

Hiccup followed her up a large hill, and down a faint path, until they reached the edge of a cliff that dropped sharply into the ocean. He stared at the water far below, confused.

"I thought we were going to take a boat there, or something?" he asked the Elder, who unfurled.

"No," she smiled. "I know someone who is more than willing to help you. But first..." she took his hand, and a soft pinkish glow emanated from her fingertips. Hiccup flinched back, yanking his hand away.

"What did you do?" he demanded.

"I gave you the gift of speech," the elder said calmly, unsurprised that he had yanked his hand away. "You may understand and speak any language you hear, now."

Hiccup stared at her, slowly looking down at his hand, then back.

"...Thanks," he muttered.

The elder nodded. She turned back towards the sea and took out a small pipe, blowing sharply into it. The sound echoed across the water, ringing in Hiccup's sensitive draconian ears. He winced. What the hell…?

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. But then the water below began to froth and bubble, until something… _giant_ rose out of the waves.

Hiccup gasped, stumbling back and tripping over his tail, sprawling on the ground. The _thing_ kept rising and rising, its neck long and serpentine, until its head towered over the two of them on the cliff.

"Morning, Pryn," the giant beast rumbled, startling Hiccup even more.

It could _speak?!_

"It's evening, Slavinka," Pryn corrected her. The beast squinted at the sky.

"...Are you sure?"

"Quite sure."

"Huh. Must've been a long nap, then. Is this the boy?" the sea serpent asked, looking at Hiccup.

"What—who—what?!" Hiccup croaked.

"Bless his heart, he's quaking at the sight of me," the sea serpent chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna eat ya. I'm your escort!"

"Escort?" Hiccup echoed. He looked frantically at Pryn, who was nodding and smiling.

"It's alright, Hiccup, there's nothing to be afraid of. This is Slavinka, she is an ancient being."

"I may be a sea serpent, but I'm not like my cousins," Slavinka added. "I don't do the whole 'eating ships' thing. Bleagh." The serpent made a disgusted face. "All those wood chips in your mouth, that get stuck in your teeth for weeks? Splinters on your _tongue?_ Noooo thank you, not for me."

Hiccup slowly stood up, staring at the sea serpent with wide eyes.

"You're… not what I expected," he said at last.

"I would certainly hope so," Slavinka shook out her giant fins, showering Hiccup and Pryn in seawater. Hiccup coughed, sputtering. "Well, shall we go then?" Slavinka said perkily.

"We're waiting for Brom, he'll be arriving soon," Pryn said, turning back to the path, where sure enough a few other stones were rolling up the hill.

The stones gathered and unfurled, to reveal trolls holding several parcels.

"We brought you some food for the journey," a troll called Min said to Hiccup, holding up a wrapped parcel. Hiccup gently took it with a tight smile.

"And a traveling cloak, as well," another troll said, holding it up. "It'll help hide your wings and tail if you come across any other humans before you reach the Troll King."

Hiccup took the cloak, feeling grateful. He smiled a little more warmly at the trolls.

"...thank you," he murmured. "You've all… been really kind to me."

"Of course!"

"Don't sweat it!"

"It's what we do!"

The chorus of voices spoke over one another, but Hiccup still gave a faint smile back.

"Ready to go?" the serpent called, lowering her head so Hiccup and Brom could climb on. Hiccup nodded, pulling on the cloak over his shoulders and tucked the parcel under his arm as he climbed onto the serpent's snout, Brom on his heels.

The serpent raised her head before slowly sliding back towards the water. She didn't dive underneath the waves, but simply glided above them, slinking through the sea like a watersnake.

Hiccup glanced back up the cliff, spotting Elder Pryn waving goodby. He raised his hand in farewell, until the distance grew too great and he couldn't see her anymore.


	6. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

Traveling by sea serpent was not the most comfortable way to travel, but it was definitely fast. Sometimes, Hiccup would catch sight of whales, but it would only be for a few moments before they sped past them, cutting through the water like a hot knife through butter.

They didn't run into any ships, amazingly. Hiccup was afraid to know what the serpent could do if they did.

After a day of traveling, they finally spotted land. And after that, It took only ten minutes for them to reach the shoreline.

The sea serpent bade them farewell as he and Brom made their way up the coastline and into the grassy lands.

Hiccup tugged the cloak tighter around his body, but he was aware just how awkward he looked with his wings hidden underneath. It looked like he had two people hiding underneath with him, not to mention the tail that still stuck out and trailed behind him.

Brom, thankfully, had not chatted much. Hiccup didn't know wether to feel grateful, or guilty about it.

The journey took them a couple days on foot, but soon they were climbing a great mountain in the middle of the night.

Apparently, traders often came this way, so traveling at night was the smartest course of action for Hiccup and Brom.

The mountained leveled out somewhat as they reached another well worn path and began to follow it up, but Hiccup had paused.

On the other side of the mountain was a large fjord, and at the edge, on the base of the mountains, stood a city with a large castle.

Hiccup had never seen a castle, especially not like this one. He stared, fascinated at the architecture of it, how different it was to what he was used to.

"Come on, we're almost there," Brom called, having noticed Hiccup had stopped. Hiccup blinked and moved again, but couldn't tear his eyes away from the castle.

He wished he could visit it…

He finally tore his eyes away from the city in order to climb further up the mountain. Finally, after about an hour of walking, they reached an area not dissimilar to the valley of trolls back on the island, only… smaller.

Hiccup had expected it to be bigger, if the troll king was here.

Brom rolled into the center of the small area and unfurled, calling out.

"Troll king! Troll king! We request an audience!"

The stones all around them began to shake and tremble, and then roll towards them. Dozens of trolls unfurled, all looking up at the two of them with large eyes.

Hiccup immediately heard whispering and mutterings, which made him shrink back.

The sea of trolls parted as a large stone rolled forward, and an old troll unfurled. He was decorated in the same mossy clothes as the others, and a crown of grass like a mane of hair surrounded his head.

"I sense dark magic," the troll king murmured. "Boy, come here. What has happened to you?"

Hiccup grimaced, slowly walking forward.

"A wizard… put a conjoining spell on me," he said, pushing back his hood to reveal the draconian ears where his real ears should be.

"And then he was turned to stone for eight hundred years," Brom added helpfully. "He used to be a viking!"

Hiccup grimaced more deeply as he heard the various gasps from the trolls. The Troll King surveyed him carefully, before motioning for Hiccup to kneel. He did so, and the troll king took his hands.

"Hmmm…" the troll king stared at them, in a similar way to the one elder had all those years ago. "I'm afraid… I cannot reverse this spell. The magic has ingrained too deeply inside of you, such an act is completely irreversible."

Hiccup's heart nearly stopped.

"Wh… what?" he croaked, drawing his hands back. "Irreversible? But… I thought you would…"

"Had you come to me the day after you transformed, possibly," the king said somberly. "But as it is now… I'm afraid there is nothing I can do."

Hiccup swallowed down a lump in his throat, hopelessness looming over him once more.

"But," the troll king said. "There is a way for you to… _appear_ normal."

"Appear normal?" Hiccup muttered thickly, confused.

"It's a simple illusion charm," the king said, picking up a pebble and rolling it between his fingers. Suddenly, it turned into a beetle in his hands. Hiccup flinched.

"It is still a rock, see," the king explained, rolling the beetle in his hands. "It only merely looks like a beetle. I can do the same with you."

"Grand Pabbie, where—whoah, what the hell?!" a voice suddenly cried. Hiccup shot to his feet, bristling at the voice, and was horrified to see a young man at the edge of the valley, staring at Hiccup with a similar gobsmacked expression

"Kristoff, welcome back," the troll king said with a smile. "This is…" he paused. "I do not believe I know your name, young man."

"Uhm… Hiccup," he croaked slowly, still staring at the young man, which he soon realized was not much older than he was. But his heart was pounding.

"What happened to you?" the teenager asked, approaching, but Hiccup flinched and took several steps back. "Woah, hey, I'm not gonna hurt you," Kristoff said quickly. "I live with these trolls, they're my family."

Hiccup paused, glancing around and then back at him.

"Are you… uhm… were you… cursed, too?" he croaked.

"Nah, just an orphan," he shrugged, but couldn't tear his eyes away from Hiccup's ears. Hiccup felt his cheeks heat up and he tugged the hood over his head to hide them.

"Kristoff, it's rude to stare," a troll berated him, whacking his leg. Kristoff yelped.

"Ow, sorry!"

"As I was saying," the troll king spoke up, "I can give you something that will keep your form hidden. But you must wear it at all times. The moment you take it off, you will become as you are again."

Hiccup nodded fervently at the troll king. The troll king produced a strange circular object from inside his cloak, and whispered a spell. Then he tied it to some twine, and handed it to Hiccup.

Hiccup took it, and pulled it over his head, the pendant settling on his chest. Immediately, he felt something akin to ice water pouring over his body, making him shiver.

The tail was suddenly gone. The cloak on his shoulders was sitting normally, as if there were nothing underneath him but his own back. The claws on his hands were gone. His hands looked…

_Normal. _

Hiccup let out a sob of relief, mixed with grief.

His hope of sending Toothless off to Valhalla was gone, completely. He would have to endure… this.

"Thank you," he croaked, meeting the troll's eyes.

"Of course, my boy… now what is it you were telling me about being a viking?" he asked curiously. Hiccup swallowed hard, finding it difficult to explain, so Brom stepped in and told the Troll King everything, about the wizard and how he had been conjoining animals, and that the wizard had petrified Hiccup to preserve him, but the spell had eventually worn off.

Hiccup was relieved that he didn't have to explain it. He didn't think he could bear talking about it out loud…

The troll king listened, slowly nodding.

"Yes, I see," he murmured. "Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to send you back in time, either. Time is too powerful for us trolls to reverse. What happens… happens. It is the law of nature, of time. A river cannot be reversed."

"Then what am I to do?" Hiccup whispered, having expected that answer. "I… I don't know what to do."

"He could stay with us," a troll suggested. "Kristoff here could have a brother!"

"Wait, what?" Kristoff blinked.

"Perhaps," the king mused. "Kristoff could help show Hiccup this new world, introduce him to it. Arendelle is not far from here. It is a small kingdom, but a wonderful place to live."

"What if we introduced him to the king?" the troll that had whacked Kristoff's kneecaps suggested. "We helped him with you-know-what, after all."

"No, I believe the king already has much on his hands," the troll king shook his head. "Kristoff. Would you mind helping Hiccup?"

"Uh… I mean, sure," Kristoff shrugged. "I'm not really a people person, but… I'll try to help out."

"There. It is settled, then," the troll king smiled. "Why don't you take him to your cabin, Kristoff. Hiccup could use some rest."

Hiccup slowly stood up, privately agreeing with the king. He felt utterly exhausted, drained from the journey and the disappointing news. The only relief he felt was the fact that he looked… _human_ again.

"What do you think, Sven?" Kristoff squinted, and to Hiccup's surprise he realized he was talking to… a reindeer?

"I don't know, he smells fishy," Kristoff said in a deeper voice. Hiccup blinked.

_What the hell?_

"But he needs help," Kristoff pointed out to himself. "But he's got scary wings," he added in a deeper voice.

"Don't mind him," a troll pipped up by Hiccup's feet. "He has a strong connection with Sven. Thinks he can tell what he's saying, and talks for him."

"...Oh," Hiccup said uncertainly. "I see."

"I can, too, tell what he's saying!" Kristoff said defensively. "It's just a thing I can do! Come on, my cabin's this way," he waved, beckoning Hiccup forward. Hiccup reluctantly followed, figuring that a somewhat-crazy guy who talked to reindeer was better than a maniac wizard.

The reindeer snorted uneasily around Hiccup, who couldn't blame him. He was uneasy around himself.

The cabin was not far away, located between two large rocks. It was small, but seemed cozy enough.

"Soooo… uhm… sounds like you've had a rough time," Kristoff spoke up awkwardly as they entered the cabin.

"You could say that," Hiccup grunted, pushing back the hood of his cloak. Warmth greeted him from a fire place. There was only one bed, but there was also a large bed of straw on the other side of the small cabin.

"You can take the bed," Kristoff offered. "I'll sleep with Sven."

"You don't have to—," Hiccup stopped short as the reindeer squeezed its way through the door and walked straight for the bed of straw, settling down with a happy groan. "...that… oh."

"I spoil him too much, but it's fall and it's starting to get really cold out there," Kristoff mentioned, tossing some gloves onto a small rickety wooden table. "And he's a baby when it comes to sleeping in the cold."

Sven made a loud complaintive noise.

"I'm not a baby, I'm just scared of frostbite!" Kristoff said in a deeper voice, then rolled his eyes. "You have _fur, _you big baby."

Hiccup stared, his heart squeezing with pain. He was suddenly reminded of bantering with Toothless in a similar way…

He swallowed down the lump in his throat and quickly turned away, taking off the cloak and setting it on the bed.

"I bet I could help get you an apprenticeship in town," Kristoff was saying. "I currently work in the ice trade business, but I don't think that would be something up your alley."

"Ice trading business?" Hiccup looked up, confused.

"Yeah. We cut up large blocks of ice and sell them," he said. "Pretty profitable, especially in the summer."

Hiccup stared.

Who in their right mind would want to sell _ice?_ That couldn't be a real thing. Especially coming from someone who had lived his whole life where it snowed nine months out of the year.

Kristoff didn't seem to notice his confusion as he bent over the fire, tossing some more logs into it.

"Soooo… what kind of name is Hiccup?" he asked curiously, standing straight.

"What kind of name is Kristoff?" Hiccup shot back, crossing his arms.

"Sorry, I was just curious. Never met a viking before," he apologized. Hiccup sighed, hanging his head.

"It's fine… Hiccup is just my name," he grunted. "You should hear the other names. Snotlout. Fishlegs. Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Ast…" he stopped short, closing his mouth sharply.

"Wow, your name actually sounds normal compared to those," Kristoff chuckled, sitting next to Sven. Hiccup plopped on the bed, shrugging.

"I guess."

It was odd. Sitting down, he didn't feel the tail or the wings getting in the way, yet at the same time he could still… _feel_ a presence, almost like an itch that wouldn't go away. He supposed that was because they were still there, just… hidden by magic.

"Soooo… How old are you?" Kristoff spoke up again.

"Fifteen," Hiccup grunted. "You?"

"Fourteen, actually," he said. "I kinda thought you were thirteen."

"I'm just short," Hiccup muttered.

"So… I heard a little bit, but… did the dragon the wizard combine you with… was it your pet?"

"He was my best friend," Hiccup whispered, finally looking up at him. "Like you and your reindeer."

Kristoff seemed to pale and he looked at Sven, wide-eyed.

"Holy… I can't even _imagine… _I'm so sorry."

"I'm going to go to sleep," Hiccup grunted, lying down.

"Right, yeah, sorry. I'll let you sleep. Uhm, goodnight."

"Night." Hiccup closed his eyes, grateful the conversation was over. He hated that all it took was one mention of Toothless, and he would feel horrible all over again.

* * *

Arendelle was a very nice city. The streets were clean, there were no open brawls, no dragons swooping overhead. The people where were polite and… _friendly._

Hiccup stared at the houses as they passed by, sitting next to Kristoff in his sleigh as Sven pulled them along, trotting happily.

"This… this is a nice place," he commented.

"Yeah," Kristoff shrugged. "I guess it is."

He pulled the sleigh to a stop and hopped out, heading for the back so he could pull the large blocks of ice out.

"There are some shops around town, I'd visit them and see if anyone is offering an apprenticeship," he told Hiccup, who had followed him of the sleigh. Hiccup nodded and walked off, looking around curiously.

He constantly checked to make sure the pendant was still there, hidden under his tunic. He didn't like the twine holding it on his neck; he needed something sturdier, something more reliable. But for now, it would have to do.

The first few shops he entered were for clothes, or different foods. The clothes shop was strange, the fashion style so different than what Hiccup was used to. It was similar to the clothes that he was wearing, the ones that the trolls had given him, but seeing more of them… he couldn't look away.

He was astonished at how many _colors_ they were. Each fabric seemed to be dyed with some rich color, ones he had never even fathomed before. He couldn't recall ever seeing such a hue of red before, except perhaps once on a dragon, or plucked from the sky at dusk. Pink, the store owner had called it, and had given him an odd look when he had asked.

Knowing he would be useless at that apprenticeship, he had moved on to a few other stores, until finally he reached one where a familiar smell of burning wood and smelted iron met his nose. He walked to the back, where an older man was banging away at a strip of red hot metal.

"Excuse me?" Hiccup called over the clanging. The man jumped, nearly dropping his hammer.

"Geez, boy, you nearly scared the living daylights outta me," the man grunted. He was bald, and was sporting a very spectacular mustache. "What can I do you for?"

"I was wondering if you were looking for an apprentice?" Hiccup asked. "I know my way around a smithy. I was an apprentice for one since I was seven."

"You?" the main raised an eyebrow, clearly judging his scrawny frame and not believing a word. "And what happened to your old master, eh?"

"He… uhm… he died," Hiccup grimaced.

"Ah. So you decided to find fortune elsewhere, eh? Arendelle's an odd place to look, but…" the man set down his hammer and straightened his mustache with two blackened fingers. "What's your name, boy?"

"Uhhh, Hakon," Hiccup said. Kristoff had told him that no one would believe him if he said his name was 'Hiccup'. It sounded too 'fantastical', in his words, whatever the hell _that_ meant. But Hiccup went with it. He was hiding everything else about himself, why not his name, too?

"Where you from, Hakon?"

Hiccup froze. Crap, where should he say he was from?

"Uhm… North of here," he said at last.

"North? The hell is _north_ of here?" the man squinted. "You mean Kingsboro?"

"Yeah! Kingsboro!" Hiccup lied. The man grunted, raising a thick eyebrow.

"Odd. Didn't even know they had a smithy up there. Alright, what are you skilled at making?"

"Swords, knives, sometimes cutlery, arrows," Hiccup counted on his fingers. "Chains, mallets—"

"Hold on, hold your horses there, boy," the man interrupted him, giving him a very odd look. "I mean anything _useful_."

Hiccup stared.

Useful? Were the things he stated above _not_ useful?

"Like cookware, door hinges, bear traps," the man elaborated.

"Oh! Yeah, I can make those," Hiccup nodded quickly.

"Alright… here," the man picked up his mallet and handed it to Hiccup. "Make me something simple, like… I dunno, a frying pan. I'll watch ya. If I like your technique, I'll take you on as an apprentice."

Hiccup nodded and quickly set to work, finding the right pieces of iron and putting them in a smelter.

The tools that the man used were slightly different than what he was used to, but the idea was all the same. Blacksmithing was a universal skill, it seemed.

The man watched him closely as Hiccup worked, but Hiccup wasn't sure if he was doing something wrong to him or not. He decided to ignore him for now, focusing on the task at hand.

A few hours later, he was beating the pan into a rough shape. When he got it to where he wanted it, he dunked it into some water, smoothed it out some more, dunked it again, before presenting it to the blacksmith.

"Hmm," the blacksmith studied the still steaming pan. "Very rough, but effective. Also, it seems you were taught by someone extremely old school, but you certainly know your way around a smithy. You start in the morning," he decided.

Relieved, Hiccup set the pan down, exhausted. He was covered head-to-toe with soot, but that was something he was quite used to.

"You have a place to stay?" the blacksmith asked as he put some tools away.

"Yeah, I have a place," Hiccup said.

"Good. Get here bright and early, alright? Seven AM sharp."

"Seven what now?" Hiccup blinked.

"Seven AM. In the morning," the blacksmith raised his eyebrow again. "You know how to tell time, don't you?"

"Uhhh…" Hiccup gave a hapless shrug. "I mean, I can get here at dawn…"

"...Boy, do you mean to tell me you don't know how to tell _time?_ What the blazes do they teach you in Kingsboro?" the blacksmith demanded, pulling out a strange circular device. He showed it to Hiccup, flicking it open to reveal a strange dial of sorts with two hands.

Hiccup flinched when he realized it was moving.

"Is it magic?" he demanded.

"What? No, it's a _watch_, you daft boy," the blacksmith retorted. "It tells the time! It's got coils and springs inside, making it go. The two hands tell you what hour and minute of the day it is."

Hiccup stared, utterly astounded. Was he _sure_ it wasn't magic?

"This hand says it's currently seven in the evening, and the right hand indicates that it's seven-thirty," the blacksmith explained. Hiccup marveled at the little object.

"Where can I get one of these?" he asked.

"Blimey, kid, you really don't know nothin' about nothin', do ya?" the blacksmith grunted. "There's watches you can get at the general store for about a pound."

"A pound?" Hiccup echoed, confused again. "A pound of what?"

The blacksmith gave him another incredulous look.

"...Money. A pound. You know, sixpence, coppers, pennies, pounds?"

"Oh! Oh, right, of course," Hiccup cleared his throat awkwardly.

"You're not from Kingsboro, are ya?" the blacksmith demanded, crossing his arms. "Where are you really from?"

Hiccup hesitated, before slowly replying.

"An island, far north," he said, which was true. "But… uhm, kind of… cut off from civilization. My…. grandfather was the one who… taught me this," he lied, gesturing to the smithy.

The blacksmith narrowed his eyes.

"Alright…" he finally conceded, walking off. "Seven am. Sharp. If you're late, you're fired."

"Yes, sir," Hiccup nodded before quickly walking off to find Kristoff in his sleigh.

Kristoff was waiting for him, half-asleep. He gave a small start as Hiccup clambered up into the sleigh beside him.

"How'd it go?" he yawned.

"Fine, got a job at the blacksmith," Hiccup said, wiping some more soot off his face.

"I can tell," Kristoff snorted, snapping the reins. Sven trotted off. "Do you think they'll let you stay there?"

Hiccup paused, looking at Kristoff.

"I… I can ask," he said. "I'm guessing you would rather not have me stuck in your bed, huh?"

"Kinda, yeah. I mean, I'm fine as a temporary thing, but like… man I need my solitude, you know? I'm not a people person," Kristoff shrugged.

Hiccup nodded, sinking into his seat.

Would _anything_ stay the same? Maybe this job would offer some sort of stability, where things wouldn't be constantly changing under his feet, faster than he could process…

"...Do you know how to use money?" Hiccup asked him, trying to distract himself from melancholy.

"Huh?"

"Money. How does it work here? I don't know about your currency."

"Oh. Uhhh," Kristoff squinted, and did his best to explain it. Hiccup listened attentively as he explained about pounds, fiftypence, and the like. Kristoff gave him a few coins to look at, but told him very firmly it was for educational purposes only and that the money was still Kristoffs.

Hiccup studied the strange coins, turning them over in his hands.

"Why do they call it a pound when it doesn't even weigh a pound?" he asked curiously.

"I have absolutely no idea. I think it's… _worth_ a pound of something?" Kristoff guessed. "Worth a pound of ice, maybe?"

"What is it with you and ice?"

"Ice is my life! Don't judge me," he complained. "This is why reindeers are better than people, you don't get judged for your career choices."

Hiccup snorted, shaking his head.


	7. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, sorry for the sporadic schedule. I'm back in school and I'm really swamped with homework, but thinking about this story is helping to keep my anxiety at bay so I legit just stayed up till 5 am finishing up this chapter/working on the next LOL. Consistency isn't going to become a habit with this until I graduate in May, if at all, but I really want to keep working on this story. **

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

CHAPTER 6

Time moved slowly for Hiccup. The days stretched into weeks, but no matter how long he stayed with the blacksmith, he still could not feel settled.

It was as if a part of him knew it didn't belong there, in that city. In this time.

Many things took a while to get used to, such as the customs of Arendelle; many of which Kristoff was no real help. The blacksmith, Aksel, also was not much help, constantly exasperated that Hiccup seemed to not know much about the smallest of things.

It wasn't Hiccup's fault he hadn't known what a toilet was!

At least he had proved his worth with the blacksmithing, and learning about the more modern inventions was… fascinating. He could easily follow complicated instructions, and even told Aksel about some of the things he himself had designed. It was probably the only reason Hiccup still hadn't been fired, yet, considering how often he exasperated his mentor.

Aksel had seemed very concerned when Hiccup had told him about the catapult he'd invented, which made Hiccup realize it was probably best to keep any more talk about weaponry to himself. This kingdom was a peaceful one, and did not take war lightly, he soon found.

One thing Hiccup realized was that, while the spell did hide his true form, it did nothing to hide his shadow. He discovered this while running an errand for Aksel, and happened to glance down at his silhouette during the noon hours. He was startled to see the shape of wings and a tail staring back at him. He'd dove into some bushes, hoping no one else had seen it, and since then had taken great care to keep his shadow from being seen in its entirety.

Today marked a month of being here in Arendelle.

Three months since he had woken up from being turned to stone.

Somehow, it did not get any easier…

Hiccup slowly rolled over in bed and got up. The beds here were a lot nicer than the ones back in Berk, but…

He still missed his room. He missed his home… he missed his dad. Astrid. Even the other teenagers, they had started to grow on him more before he'd left…

Today was his day off, so he was in no rush to leave the room Aksel had given him. The light of the morning creeped through the slits of wood covering the windows, washing the room in a gentle golden glow. Faintly, Hiccup could hear life outside his window as the people of Arendelle began their day.

An ache, physical and non-physical, made it impossible to lay there any longer.

He slowly stood and stretched, walking to the door to make sure it was locked. He glanced at the windows, double-checking they were covered, before taking off the pendant, now dangling from a metal chain instead of the weak twine from before.

His wings stretched out like a scroll being unfurled. They ached from being so useless for so long. He knew that not being used wasn't good for them, but… bringing himself to exercise them—he just couldn't.

He stretched the wings out for now, trying to ignore how tender they were.

A knock at the door startled him. He jumped and scrambled for the pendant, yanking it on.

"Uh, just a second, not wearing pants!" he called, grabbing some trousers and yanking them on.

"Hurry up," Aksel called from the other side of the door. "I need you to run an errand for me, boy."

"It's my day off, though!"

"I need these parts by next week, so either you pipe down and do what I say or I'm not payin' ya this week."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, tugging on his shirt before unlocking his door. Aksel was there, holding a sheet of paper.

"I need you to deliver this to the post office," he said, also handing him a penny.

"Fine," Hiccup sighed, taking the letter. The post office was across the city, but it wouldn't take long to get there.

He headed out, letter and penny in hand. Maybe he should go visit the trolls today…?

The sun was bright and the air was crisp. But even with a thick layer of snow on the ground, it felt very warm to Hiccup, who was used to the freezing temperatures and only a mild thaw for the summer. He could only imagine what the summer would be like here.

"Hakon!" a voice called. Hiccup glanced over his shoulder to see Maja, the nine-year old daughter of the general store owner, running to him. He stiffened up, trying to walk a little faster, but she easily caught up with him.

She was a black-haired energetic young girl, with a pointed nose sharp enough to poke holes in the business she stuck it in. Her blue eyes were keen and watchful, and her ears large enough to hear just about all the gossip in town.

"Hello!" she giggled, her voice high and squeaky.

"Ahh, hello there," Hiccup said awkwardly.

"Where are you headed?"

"Post office. Urgent business," he gestured to his letter. "Yep. So, yeah, gotta dash, can't talk, really."

"I'll go with you!" Maja said brightly. Hiccup winced.

Honestly, what was with her? He had met her a few weeks ago, and for some reason she had decided to cling to him like a burr. She was insanely talkative, and couldn't seem to get a clue that he just wanted to be left alone.

"Really, you don't have to. I'm sure you have somewhere important you need to be."

"No, not really," Maja shook her head. "So did you hear that tomorrow is Princess Elsa's birthday? Of course you wouldn't really know about that, considering you're not from around here, but the whole city celebrates even if we don't even see her or Princess Anna. They're like mystery princesses, you don't ever see them but you eat their cake! That's kind of weird, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, really weird. Hey, uhm, I think I heard your dad calling for you," Hiccup said. Maja blinked, turning around, and Hiccup used that moment to bolt, running around a corner and out of sight. He heard Maja calling out his name in complaint, but he didn't care.

He just wanted to be left alone, for Odin's sake!

He reached the post office and stepped inside, handing the letter and penny to the man at the counter, who took it with a sleepy "G'mornin'".

Hiccup let out a sigh as he turned to leave the post office, fidgeting with the pendant around his neck.

"Whatcha got there?"

Hiccup screeched in surprise, nearly jumping a foot in the air as Maja popped out of nowhere, grinning widely in the doorway of the post office.

"Suffering scallops, Maja!" Hiccup cried. "Don't do that!"

"Suffering scallops?" she giggled. "You're weird." Hiccup deadpanned, glaring slightly at her as he straightened his shirt.

"What's that?" Maja asked, pointing to the pendant. Hiccup quickly grabbed it.

"Nothing," he said shortly, sticking it under his shirt. "It's nothing."

"I wanna see it, it looks pretty!" Maja complained.

"It's nothing," Hiccup said firmly.

"Can I have it?"

"No, it's mine."

"But you said it was nothing!"

"Nothing that concerns you," Hiccup said very firmly. "So please leave me be."

"I just want to look at it!" Maja stomped her foot, puffing her cheeks indignantly. Hiccup gave an exasperated sigh before yanking the pendant out and holding it to her, keeping a tight grip on it.

"There. Look at it," he said.

Maja made a mad grab for the pendant, yanking it out of his hands before he could stop her.

Snap!

Hiccup felt the metal links break.

The black shadow of his large wings fell over the little girl, blocking out the sunlight. His tail, loose and free, knocked over a nearby stack of letters and they came crashing to the floor.

"NO!" he yelped, grabbing the pendant back with claw-like hands.

Maja was staring up at him, terrified, before letting out an ear-piercing scream, echoed by the post office worker who was quaking behind the counter, pointing at Hiccup with a shaking knobbly finger.

"Y—Y—You! M-m-m-monster!" he cried in a garbled voice.

"No, I'm not! I'm not!" Hiccup croaked, but his voice went unheard as Maja's screams were drawing the attention of those outside the post office. He heard shouts from behind him, more screams of terror.

Hiccup whirled around, seeing other townspeople staring at him through the open door, every single face pale at the sight of him.

"MONSTER!" the post office worker yelled. "HE'S A MONSTER!"

Hiccup ran. He didn't know where he was going, he just bolted out the door and in a random direction, fumbling with the pendant and trying to get it back around his neck, but it had been broken in a place that was not easily fixed.

"AFTER HIM!" he heard men shouting behind him.

He found himself on the bridge, heading towards the castle, and in front of him a row of guards running towards him with their guns jutting forward. Hiccup did the only thing he could think of and jumped to the side, off the bridge and into the water below.

The water was icy cold, but he swam as deep as he could, trying to see through the murky blue water.

His lungs burned. He needed to breathe.

He swam out as far as he could before breaking the surface of the water, his lungs not being able to take it anymore. He coughed up seawater, blinking water out of his eyes.

He was near the back of the castle now. He could hear the guards calling for aid, to search for him, to send for boats.

"Shit," Hiccup cursed, swimming for the shore closest to him. His feet touched the rocks of the shoreline and he scrambled up.

He was behind the castle, where giant walls towered above him. Not too far ahead was a door that clearly lead into the castle grounds.

Should he hide in there?

He didn't have time to wait, he heard the sounds of oars drawing nearer. He ran for the door and quickly entered, thankful it was unlocked, and slipped inside.

He was met with a narrow corridor that he quietly slipped down, all the while trying to fix the pendant. When he couldn't fix it quick enough, he gave up and yanked off one of the laces of his boots, slipping the pendant onto it and quickly tied it around his neck.

The wings and tail vanished at once. But the damage was already done…

"He went through this door, I'm sure of it!" Hiccup suddenly heard a voice cry. He cursed and bolted for it, running into an open courtyard. He kept near the edge of it, hoping no servants or guards spotted him as he desperately looked for some form of escape.

He spotted a large stack of wooden crates stacked by what seemed to be the entrance to the kitchens, and quickly climbed them up. The crates barely reached the first window, but he jumped for them and grabbed hold. From there he was able to climb his way up the wall, hopping from window to window until he reached a pillar that offered a route to roof of the castle. Thankfully, none of the guards had spotted him yet, but he kept climbing the many roofs of the castle, keeping low to try to avoid detection.

Finally, he noticed a half opened window and headed for it, hoping to hide inside and wait for the guards to give up, to think they'd lost him.

He reached the window and tumbled inside, slamming the glass planes shut and locking them tight. He panted in the silence, hanging his head. There was a small plink on wood as the shoe-string cord unraveled from his hasty not, and his pendant fell to the wood floor. He didn't reach for it however, trembling as his now visible wings shook.

He'd been discovered and chased out for being a monster. There went all hope of finding some sense of normality. It would never work, Hiccup would never find any place—!

A sudden, shrill screech made Hiccup freeze as he remained crouched against the glass windows. Slowly, he turned his head, his heart now settled in his gut as he realized he had forgotten the simple detail of checking to see if the room was empty.

Which it was not.

Staring at him from across the room was a girl who couldn't have been older than him. She had platinum blonde hair and her blue eyes were wide in terror. She was dressed in a regal dress, ten times nicer than the clothes Hiccup had seen in the shops, or on the people of Arendelle.

"Uhhhh," Hiccup croaked, slowly bending down to get his pendant and inching back for the window, scrambling for the latch, all the while trying to not look away from the girl.

The girl slowly backed away from him, her eyes never leaving his form. As her back hit the door, a faint crackling sound was heard at her feet as small ice particles began to form around her legs.

Hiccup did a double-take, his hand freezing on the latch as he watched the ice grow against the door, the source still appearing to be her feet. Even the doorknob in her hand began to ice over.

_Magic?_! The girl had _magic?_

Terror filled him and he whirled around, shoving at the window and pushed it open.

"W-what are you?" Her voice was faint compared to the sounds of his claws against the glass, but it was enough to give him pause.

He looked back at her, meeting her terrified eyes. Realizing… they were as terrified as he was.

"...I'm human," he croaked, not pulling his hands away from the window, but didn't move either. "I'm… I'm human."

She stared at him for a long while, the crackling of ice stopping. What ice had already formed remained, but she managed to slowly take her fingers off of the doorknob.

"Are…" she swallowed thickly, "Do you have magic powers?"

Hiccup stared, glancing down at the ice as his uncertainty grew again. Slowly, he shook his head.

"No… I was cursed," he said guardedly, inching back but his feet hit the wall below the window. The tail behind him lashed with his unease as he surveyed her carefully. "...what about you?"

"I…" the girl looked down at her gloved hands, clenching her fingers into fists, fear still present on her features even as she looked at herself. "I was born with this… but it may as well be a curse."

Hiccup swallowed, gripping the pendant tightly in his hand. Slowly, he raised it, tying it around his neck again. The wings vanished at once, leaving him human in appearance again.

The girl stared at him incredulously. Ice was once again heard at her feet as Hiccup realized her powers seemed to be connected to her emotions or moods.

"How did you do that?" she asked him, a hint of jealousy in her voice. "How did you make the wings and tail go away?"

"Uh," Hiccup lifted the pendant with a small grimace. "Just this. It's… not really gone. The Troll King gave this to me, to make me… look normal. But… it's just an illusion."

"The Troll King was able to give you something to help?!" Anger flared across her features, ice inching closer to him on the floor.

"Hide," Hiccup corrected but flinched when a large shard of ice snaked across the floor to his feet.

"Still!" She began to pace in front of the doors, clutching her arms as a swirl of emotions hit her.

"Uhm… do you mind if I ask who you are?" Hiccup asked tentatively. The girl stopped to look at him guardedly, considering.

"... Tell me who you are, first. And why the Troll King was still able to help you conceal your wings and tail." She demanded, tilting her chin up at him, her gaze almost as icy as the shards around her.

"Okay, okay," Hiccup said, taking a side-step away from the ice that was now almost touching his feet. "Uh, my name is Hiccup. I was kidnapped by a lunatic wizard and my body was combined with my dragon, turned to stone for a few centuries, the troll king wasn't able to separate our bodies and now all I can do is try to find some place to live without being discovered and hunted down as a monster. So yeah."

"...Did you hit your head? When you came in the window?" the girl asked slowly.

"I wish," he muttered, looking away.

"A dragon, though?" She pressed, still unconvinced.

"What else did you think my wings were?" he retorted, taking the pendant off again and showing his wings, causing her to flinch briefly. They stretched out, though not to their full extent. Hiccup's large black draconian ears flickered. "Is this proof enough for you?"

"I thought they were bat wings, really…" she mumbled. "Dragons are- uh, were just… things in fairy tales."

Hiccup's heart immediately clenched as a question in his mind rose, one that he hadn't actually considered.

What had happened to the dragons? Had they all been exterminated?

He forced himself to not think about that at the moment as he yanked the pendant back on.

"Yeah, and I thought the same thing about trolls," he shrugged. "But here we are. So what's your name?" he asked, turning the questions to her.

She looked at him, her eyes looking over his features as she seemed to struggle internally with if she should tell him her name. Their eyes met once more.

"Elsa," she murmured. "My name is Elsa."

Hiccup paused, his eyes widening.

"Wait… as in… Princess Elsa?" he asked slowly.

Elsa nodded, then paused.

"Why do you sound so surprised? You snuck into a castle," she pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Well…" Hiccup paused. "In all honesty, I was just trying to hide. I wasn't thinking about… uh…" his cheeks turned pink with embarrassment. Well that had been a giant oversight on his part. "I panicked. I saw an open window and I hid."

Elsa slowly seemed to grow more comfortable with his presence, though she still looked at him warily. The ice that had formed at their feet was beginning to melt away.

"Still, if you were trying to hide from guards, I wouldn't have picked a castle," she told him.

"They were coming after me in boats!" Hiccup cried defensively. "I made a hasty split second decision."

"If you were in my sister's room," she told him, pausing for a moment as she thought of her younger sister's reaction, "You'd probably be arrested by now."

Hiccup paused at that.

"...So… why aren't I?"

Elsa opened and closed her mouth a few times, holding her hand up as an explanation tried to find its way to her lips, but any words she tried to utter died off. She dropped her hand and looked at him.

"... Because…" she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, "You reminded me of me…"

Hiccup stared, admittedly shocked.

"Well… thanks for not calling the guards on me," he whispered. "I'll… I'll go, before they come looking in here."

"Wait!" Elsa suddenly looked alarmed.

Hiccup paused.

"You can't tell anyone about my powers," she pleaded with him. "No one but my parents know. Not even my sister... Please, don't tell anyone."

He looked around at the ice, at how it was creeping up again with her desperation.

Who wouldn't want to hide that?

He gave her a soft sad smile.

"Trust me, if anyone understands the need to hide… it's me. I won't tell a soul," he swore.

"Promise?" she whispered, fear evident in her voice.

"Who would believe me? Who would I even tell? Currently everyone out there is trying to get my head," he grimaced, jerking a thumb to the window.

"... Why don't you stay here?" Elsa suddenly suggested, wringing her hands together nervously. "I mean, no one's found you yet and I don't… Let anyone in my room, anyways."

"Stay here?" Hiccup echoed, startled.

"At least until they stop looking for you."

The idea was extremely tantalizing. He glanced out the window once more, and spotted a large swarm of guards far below, clearly grouping to divide up and search for him.

"That… would actually be… uh, nice," Hiccup croaked, backing away from the window.

Suddenly, there was rhythmic knocking at Elsa's door, causing the pair to freeze - in Elsa's case, literally, as ice shot across the floor.

Hiccup immediately scrambled for a desk, diving underneath it and hiding behind the chair.

"Elsa?" A young girl's voice was heard faintly through the door. "Do you wanna play? The guards are all busy so we could totally sneak some chocolate from the kitchens!"

"G-go away, Anna!" Elsa cried, leaning against the door in case her sister tried to push it open. "I don't wanna play right now!"

"But…" Anna groaned and there was a dull thud from the other side of the door, causing Elsa to wince. She had clearly slumped against it. "Well, there was an intruder in the castle. Everyone was saying it was some kind of troll or goblin or something, but Daddy isn't sure what it is because he didn't see it."

"If there's an intruder, why aren't you in your room safe and sound?!" Elsa demanded, glaring at the door. Sometimes, she wondered if her sister had a brain or not.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay!"

"By asking me to play when there's someone in the castle?! Anna, just go back to your room!" Elsa sounded exasperated, resisting the urge to actually open the door to shake her little sister into having some common sense. The ice surrounding the door and the quivering half-dragon under her desk were enough to keep her from following through with that kind of action.

"All the guards think whatever it was went into the dungeons, anyway," Anna huffed.

"Still, you should go back to your room where it's safe." Elsa sighed. "I don't want you to get hurt, Anna."

"Ugh… fine," she groaned dejectedly, and the sound of footsteps slowly receded.

Elsa slumped heavily against the door, letting out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding. A few snowflakes fell from her exhale.

Hiccup peeked out from under the desk, wide-eyed.

"... I told you," she said so softly that he almost didn't catch it, "I don't let anyone in my room…" Sadness was laced in her voice as her body remained pressed against the heavy wooden door.

Hiccup slowly got out from under the desk.

"Is there anything like a cure?" he wondered. "Something to stop all… this?" he gestured to the ice coating the floor.

Elsa shrugged.

"The Troll King didn't… Say there was one. He just warned me that-that I could really hurt someone if I can't control it." she blinked back tears, glancing at Hiccup. "I already had hurt Anna."

Hiccup watched her, his heart aching with empathy.

"I'll find a cure," he said, speaking without even realizing.

Elsa shook her head.

"I don't think there's a cure for this."

"There has to be something to help you. To help the both of us," Hiccup pressed. "I'll find something."

Elsa wrapped her arms around herself as she studied Hiccup warily.

"But if the Troll King could only disguise you and couldn't even help me… Then, who could?" she asked him, not willing to give herself any hope of actually being free from the powers she felt were a curse ever since the day she accidentally struck Anna with ice.

"Well… I have wings. I guess I could fly around until I find something," Hiccup said with a small shrug, though he grimaced deeply.

He still hadn't flown with them. He didn't even know if he could.

"Where would you even look?" Elsa asked as she sat heavily on her bed, looking down at the swirling patterns of ice on the floor.

"As much as I hate the thought of it, somewhere with magic. Maybe I can find more wizards…" he shuddered at the mere thought.

"Just like dragons, I thought wizards were just in fairy tales. I mean… I know now they did exist at some point but… Do you think there are any left?" she asked him, finally looking at him. Worry was written all over her face.

Hiccup paused, not wanting to think of that horrible thought.

What if there weren't any more wizards?

"Well… they must have left something behind, if that were the case," he said, trying to think fast. "I don't know. I have… one place in mind to start looking," he did his best to suppress a shiver that ran down his spine. It was the last place he would ever want to return, but… He had to at least try.

"Where?" Elsa asked.

"Back to that island," Hiccup murmured. "Where I was cursed."

"Is it… far from here?" she asked slowly, as if actually considering going to such a place.

"It's a day's journey on a sea serpent, apparently," Hiccup shrugged.

"... On a what?!"

Hiccup managed a snort. He would think that a girl with magic ice powers wouldn't be so shocked at the existence of things like sea serpents and dragons.

"You heard me. Sea serpent."

"How? Wh-where even did you ride one?!" she asked incredulously as she moved across her bed so she was sitting on the other side, closer to him. It seemed her apprehension towards him was finally beginning to melt away. Literally.

Hiccup sat in the desk chair, scratching his head.

"Well… it was back on the island, there were trolls there, too. They helped me out," he explained. "They summoned this giant serpent, who took me to this mainland so I could reach the Troll King, to see if he could help me at all."

Elsa nodded slowly.

"I wanna say it's crazy you even believe me, but…" Hiccup glanced at the ice. "Honestly, these past few months for me have been pretty—er, eye-opening, I guess you could say."

"Eye-opening?" Elsa asked, tilting her head at him.

"I didn't think magic was a real thing," Hiccup shrugged. "Just… things from fairy tales. I mean, dragons existed, yeah, but they were natural beasts. Not magic."

Elsa couldn't help but snort.

"Yet for me dragons and wizards are the fairy tales," she said between un-princess-like laughs.

"Well then I guess this encounter was eye-opening for the both of us," Hiccup gave her a small smile.

Elsa couldn't help but smile back. It felt nice to not have to hide her abilities from everyone aside from her parents. Even if it was accidental this stranger found out about them in the first place.

"So, uh… What do dragons eat? Er- I mean, what do you like to eat?" she asked him sheepishly.

"Uhhhhh…" Hiccup's stomach gave a sudden growl. He hadn't eaten breakfast. "Well, I eat anything. Dragons usually like fish though—but not eels," he added.

"I dooon't think we have eels." Elsa told him slowly. "But we may have some chocolate or bread or something."

"...What's chocolate?" Hiccup asked curiously.

Elsa stared at him as if he had suddenly grown an extra head in addition to the draconic features he had shown her earlier.

"You'll see," she promised him as she pressed an ear to her door. Hearing nothing, she nodded to herself then turned to look at Hiccup. "Stay here, I'll be back in a bit with some food while everyone's distracted. Don't open the door for anyone, okay?"

"I mean, opening the door would kind of give it away that I'm in here, so…" Hiccup snorted.

Elsa glared at him briefly before quietly slipping out the door, leaving him alone in her room.


	8. Chapter 7

**Wow, 2 chapters in 2 days LOL I am the queen of inconsistency. (Maybe its because we're finally getting the good ol' Hiccelsa interactions that really make me excited for it). **

**Also just FYI i'll be editing the previous chapters in certain places, nothing too huge, just mostly word choices and little plot holes. Like in the previous chapter I mentioned it was spring, but it was almost Elsa's birthday, and I forgot that her birthday is actually in winter so I'm going back and making sure that the previous chapter is set in winter LOL. **

**Hope you enjoy! Reviews are appreciated ;w;**

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**CHAPTER 7**

Hiccup's eyes fluttered open, the light hitting his eyes in a blinding way. He winced, shielding the light from his eyes.

Where was he…? The scenery around him was unfamiliar…

He squinted, his eyes slowly adjusting to the bright light, and with a startled gasp he dropped his hand, sitting bolt-upright.

He was back home. Back on Berk, in that cove that he and Toothless had spent so many hours together. He stood, his heart racing.

He was _home_!

"_Hiccup,"_ A familiar voice growled, echoing around the cove. Hiccup jumped again and whirled around to see his father. But his father… was different. He was old, worn, with ten times the amount of scars. He looked defeated.

"Dad?!" Hiccup gasped.

"_You abandoned your people,"_ Chief Stoic said in a whisper that echoed like thunder.

"I—I didn't mean to," Hiccup choked, backing away as tears flooded his eyes. "I was going to come back!

"_You abandoned us, Hiccup. You abandoned the dragons, you abandoned your tribe, you left everything. You betrayed your family."_

"I'm sorry!" Hiccup was sobbing now. "I'm sorry!"

"_You murdered your best friend."_

"I'M SORRY!" Hiccup screamed. Thunder was echoing in his ears now, as lightning flashed all around him and rain poured from the heavens. His father vanished in the downpour and Hiccup was left all alone as the water grew higher and higher, threatening to drown him.

"_Hiccup!"_

A voice was growing louder, echoing his name, until finally something kicked his ribs and Hiccup sat up as if he'd been electrocuted.

The nightmare was still vivid in his mind and he looked around his surrounding in utter confusion, before he slowly remembered where he was. He was hiding away in Elsa's closet… His makeshift bed was behind a row of her dresses, and he slowly pushed them aside to see Elsa, standing a few feet away in a nightgown.

"You were… you were crying," Elsa said softly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to kick you, but I didn't want to…" she grimaced, glancing down at her gloved hands.

"It's fine, I'm sorry," Hiccup croaked, aware how raw his throat felt. His cheeks were wet and he quickly wiped them. "I was having a… a nightmare."

"Do you get them often?" Elsa asked him gently, slowly kneeling. Hiccup frowned, shaking his head.

"This is the first," he admitted. "I haven't really… had any dreams at all until now."

"I see…" Elsa murmured.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Hiccup winced, glancing out the closet door to see it was still quite dark out.

"It's fine, I was awake anyways. I always have trouble sleeping," Elsa said, standing up. "I had some tea brought up, it usually helps me. Do… you want some?" she offered. Hiccup noticed the awkwardness in her voice, as if she were unused to sharing something as simple as tea.

"It's fine, I'm fine. Thanks," Hiccup sighed but got up anyway. He wasn't tired anymore, not after that horrible nightmare.

"Okay," Elsa nodded awkwardly and quickly walked back into her room, sitting at a small table where she ate most of her meals. A tray of tea was there.

Hiccup slowly walked into the room and glanced out the window, at the dark sky. He sighed.

The guards would be on high alert for at least another day, before giving up their search for him. They had heard the guards tramp all through the castle the day before, searching for him, but thankfully none had thought to check Princess Elsa's room.

He saw the many torches around the courtyard of the castle, and moved away from the window in case he was spotted. He slumped at the table across from Elsa. Elsa glanced at him before smiling softly and picked up a small bowl.

"I wasn't able to get any chocolates earlier, but Hannah brought some up for me with my tea," she said, pushing the bowl towards him. "Try it."

Hiccup lifted his head, glancing at the small round balls suspiciously.

"No offense, it looks like some kind of animal droppings."

Elsa immediately grew offended. Hiccup's cheeks burned.

"Just try it, you'll like it!" she insisted. He decided to not argue with her and picked one up, sniffing it carefully before popping it in his mouth.

An explosion of a sweetness Hiccup had ever tasted melted onto his tongue. He stared, at the bowl, wide-eyed as he held the chocolate in his mouth, not wanting to even swallow it.

"Good?" Elsa pressed.

"Odin's left sock, this is amazing," Hiccup groaned, finally chewing and swallowing. Elsa blinked.

"Odin's what now?"

"Left—nevermind. Viking term," hiccup shook his head. Elsa blinked again.

"Viking?" she echoed. "What do you mean?" Hiccup stared and his shoulders slumped.

"Did you not believe me when I said I was turned to stone for eight hundred years?" he grunted.

"...Well… not really. You're speaking _very_ good english for someone who claims they lived eight hundred years ago," Elsa pointed out.

"Troll spell," Hiccup said glumly. "I can understand and speak any language now, I guess. Trust me, to me you're speaking Norse."

"More magic?" she whispered.

"Yep."

She considered him for a few moments, contemplating this.

"But… wait, so… you're really a _viking?"_ She said. "As in… the people who conquered and pillaged other people?"

"What?! No, no," Hiccup sat up at once."That's more of a Meathead or Uglythug thing to do. Their viking tribes are more of the pillaging type. I'm from Berk, we kinda just… stay put. We're the stubborn type, too stubborn for our own good, defending our land from dragons…" Hiccup trailed off, realizing he was talking about Berk in the present tense and his heart clenched.

"I see…"

Hiccup met her eyes for a moment, before looking away again.

"So… You had those powers since you were born?" he pressed.

"Yeah," Elsa grimaced, fingering her teacup.

"Are you sure some witch didn't curse your mom before she had you?" Hiccup asked. "That's something that happens in folk tales."

"My parents keep telling me that's not the case, but I'm not sure I believe them," Elsa admitted. "They're currently trying to find out answers, why I'm like… _this,"_ she gestured half-heartedly to herself. "I think they must have visited about a hundred libraries by now across Norway."

"...This might sound like a dumb question, but where's Norway?" Hiccup asked curiously. Elsa blinked and gave him an incredulous look, which made his cheeks turn red.

"Listen, a few months ago I was only aware of, like, my own island of Berk and a few other places across the Archipelago," Hiccup snorted dryly. Elsa came back with a map and set it down in front of him.

"This is a map of the entire world," She said. Hiccup did a double take.

"What?!" he cried, staring. "The whole _world?_ That's impossible!"

"It's not. This is us," Elsa pointed to a small area on the map. "This whole area here is Norway, and Arendelle is this tiny dot here. Actually, that dot is probably ten times the size Arendelle is," she smirked, making Hiccup's jaw drop further. He stared at the map, taking in the size of the other countries.

"It… it… it's so…" he fumbled for words, his green eyes stretching wider as they took in the sheer size of what the world must be. "It's so _big_," he whispered.

"It's huge," she agreed.

"It's all been explored?"

"Not all of it, just the big countries, and not even all of that. A lot of land hasn't been explored in depth, I don't think," Elsa said, gesturing to a few of the large continents. "The Americas for sure has a lot of unexplored land, untouched by men."

"Wow…" Hiccup breathed. He squinted at the map, trying to see if he could find the archipelago he knew, but couldn't even see it. Were these countries that big? Was the _world_ really that big?

"Some days…" Elsa sighed, her eyes drooping as she stared at the map. "Some days I wish I could just… leave. It would be better for everyone, you know? Every day I tell myself c_onceal it, don't feel it, don't let it show…_ but some days I don't know if it does any good, and I can't bear to think what might happen on a day I need to hide it the most. What might happen to my family… to Arendelle…" she looked out the window, her eyes laced with fear and sadness. "There's a lot of uninhabited places around the world, I could just stay there without having to worry about hurting anyone."

Hiccup looked up, meeting her eyes with empathy.

"Why can't you?" he asked softly.

"Because…" she trailed off, her voice catching in her throat. "I just can't."

He frowned, wanting to press further, but decided against it with the look on her face. Instead, he glanced back at the map. Her words echoed in his mind, striking a cord in him.

"You sound like me," he muttered.

"Pardon?"

"I… left. I left for the same reason," he said. "Well—not the exact same reason, but… I thought it would be better for everyone if I'd left. Berk… my tribe fought dragons, killed them, trained us to kill them because they were nothing but dangerous beasts. But…" his eyes filled with tears. "Then… then I met Toothless. And he… wasn't. And… you know, I don't know if this is obvious or not, but I'm not exactly the best viking out there. I could never take down a dragon, much less kill one, and when I befriended a dragon, that was… I guess the last straw and I realized… I was just too different, so I left." he swallowed hard. "And look where that got me. I shouldn't have left… but I didn't know how I could stay."

"It wasn't your fault, Hiccup," Elsa said softly. The words were so strange to Hiccup that he looked up, startled.

"What?"

Elsa reached forward but then thought better, pulling her hands back.

"It's not your fault, what happened to you," Elsa went on.

"Yes, it is," Hiccup growled, looking away. "I left. I got my best friend killed. It's as simple as that."

Elsa looked at him sadly, and Hiccup instantly regretted the tone of his voice.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"No, it's fine. I just… wished I knew what to say."

"So do I," he admitted, looking up at her. "I think we're a little too similar," he snorted weakly. She smiled back just as tentatively.

"Honestly… I'm really happy there's someone who somewhat understands," she murmured.

"Yeah…" Hiccup said softly. "For what it's worth… I hope you find a way to control your powers, so you don't have to even think of leaving."

"Thanks, Hiccup," Elsa said with a pained smile.

They stared at one another for a few moments before Hiccup glanced back down at the chocolate.

"Can I have another?" he asked hopefully. Elsa gave a much warmer smile.

"As many as you like," she offered. Hiccup smiled back and took a couple more.

"How old are you?" he asked her, popping another delicious chocolate in his mouth and savoring it.

"Fourteen. I'll be fifteen tomorrow..." Elsa said with a small shrug. "You?"

"Fifteen. Well—technically eight hundred and fifteen," Hiccup realized. "If you wanna get technical." Elsa snorted softly.

"You're short for a fifteen year old," she smirked softly.

"Wow. Really? _I am?_" Hiccup drawled, putting a hand to his chest in mock surprise. "No kidding! I had _no_ idea!"

"I just thought vikings were supposed to be really tall," Elsa said defensively with another small laugh.

"Oh, they are. They're _huge._ My dad is like, seven feet and a half tall."

"Okay, now you're just fibbing."

"No, I'm not! He's…" Hiccup's grin faded as he realized, once again, he was talking about his father in the present tense. He swallowed, looking away. "He was… well, the tallest, bravest viking I ever knew."

"I'm sorry," Elsa said at once, but Hiccup shook his head.

"Don't be. It… It hurts more to not talk about him," he admitted. Elsa's eyes softened.

"What was he like?" she asked. Hiccup pondered that question, fighting the heat that rose to his eyes.

"Stubborn," he murmured. "Really, ungodly stubborn. Very much act first, think later. But when you're defending your tribe from dragons, you need that. He's brilliant, too, though. And he cares for nothing more than protecting his people," he croaked, a tear falling down his cheek.

"What about your mother?" Elsa asked. Hiccup shrugged.

"I never knew her," he admitted. "She died when I was a baby."

"I'm sorry," Elsa grimaced.

"Don't be."

"Did you have any… any friends, other than your dragon?"

Hiccup snorted softly at that question.

"Kinda. There was Gobber, my mentor…" and he just started talking about his home, grateful for her listening ear. He talked about everything that had been weighing on his mind, his old home, about everyone that he knew, how he had even started to feel like he was one of them in the weeks before he left.

Elsa listened, taking in his stories with soft eyes and a kind smile.

"And what about your dragon?" she asked him after Hiccup was silent for a few moments, lost in thought. "You said his name was Toothless?"

The question made his heart stab in pain, but having talked about everything else already, it was easier to open his mouth.

"Yeah, Toothless," he sniffed, wiping away a tear.

"Did he have no teeth?"

"Nah, retractable teeth. That was scary as hell when I found out, let me tell you," Hiccup snorted, another tear escaping but this time he let it fall. He was tired of suppressing them at this point. "He was… amazing. I helped him fly again, I flew _with_ him, and he took me to places that… that humans can only dream," he croaked, his eyes flitting up to the ceiling, as if he could see through the wood and mortar to the inky sky beyond.

"You flew?" Elsa whispered. Hiccup nodded. "Those wings that you have… can you still fly?"

"I have no idea. I haven't flown since…" he looked away, a pit in his stomach. "The idea of using them… I just _can't_. I mean, how would you like it if your best friend's appendages were attached to you?"

Elsa grimaced.

"That would be awful."

"I wanted…" Hiccup forced himself to take a deep breath, close to crying again. "I just wanted our bodies to be separated so I could give him the proper viking funeral, but…" Hiccup's eyes burned with tears. "The Troll King said that was impossible, so now I have to carry around my best friend's wings with me till I die."

"Maybe he would have wanted you to use them," Elsa said softly. "How did that curse work, exactly?"

"The trolls said that the curse combines bodies, but not minds," Hiccup murmured. "So either one lives and one dies, or both die."

"Maybe Toothless _gave_ his wings to you, to give you a chance?" she suggested.

Hiccup frowned and shook his head. "It's what I would have done for my sister, if it were us," Elsa shrugged, looking away. He looked up, studying her carefully.

"I don't know," he whispered. "I just don't know if I _can."_

She nodded, understanding. She sat back in her chair, picking up her tea and sipping it.

Silence grew between the two of them, the both of them lost in their thoughts.

"Well… I think I'm gonna try to go to bed," Elsa said softly, finally setting the empty teacup down.

"Yeah, okay," Hiccup sighed, grabbing one more chocolate before he stood up. "Goodnight, Elsa."

"Goodnight, Hiccup."

* * *

When Hiccup woke the next morning, he realized something big must be going on from the many voices that were in Elsa's room. He quickly scooted as far back as he could in the closet, glad that there were a bunch of dresses for him to hide behind and that the closet was so big—it was more like a giant room. Once he was sure that no one would be able to see him, he stayed as still as possible. The voices in the other room slowly grew more clear.

"_...sure you won't see Anna today?"_ Hiccup heard a deep, unfamiliar voice.

"_I don't know if that's a good idea. Remember what almost happened last year?" _Elsa replied, frustrated.

"_I know you think staying away is the best thing to do, but it's your birthday. Why can't you just…"_

"_Elsa, the floor,"_ another voice spoke up. A woman's voice..

"_Papa, you _know _why,"_ Elsa was firm, but clearly scared. "_Once I'm able to control my powers, and Anna won't be in any danger, then I'll see her. But as I am now… so many excitements will be too much for me. It's best if I don't see anyone."_

"_My darling…" the woman's voice said softly. _

"_Mother, no, please, don't touch me!"_

"_I'm sorry."_ There was a few moments of silence, only filled with Elsa's sniffles.

"_I—I need to be alone. Please."_ Elsa croaked. "_My magic… I—I can feel it slipping again."_

"_Alright… if you feel better later, have a servant sent for us. Perhaps we can have dinner together."_

"_Or I'll just freeze dinner,"_ Elsa muttered bitterly.

There was the sound of a door closing and then deafening silence.

Hiccup slowly got up, pushing aside the dresses. He stepped for the closet door and cracked it open, peering out.

Elsa was sitting on her bed, staring dully at her gloved hands. She looked up at the sound of the door opening, however, and almost jumped at the sight of Hiccup.

"I almost forgot you were here," she said, sliding off the bed.

"I forgot that you said your birthday was today," Hiccup said, glancing at the door.

"Listen… Hiccup…" Elsa croaked, wringing her hands. "I know I said you could stay, but… I—I'm really scared something might happen. My birthday is always the worst day for me, I can never control myself properly…" she trailed off.

As she spoke, Hiccup saw ice grew along the floor from her feet. He grimaced.

"Do you think I should leave?" He asked quietly.

"I don't know…" Elsa looked out the window. "The guards are still doubled. If you left, it would have to be during the night."

"I see…" Hiccup looked out the window as well. He hated how much pain Elsa was in, how she refused to even touch anyone. "When I go… I'll find something to fix you. To fix the both of us," he promised. Elsa met his eyes.

"I don't think that will happen, but… thank you, Hiccup," she murmured. "I… I appreciate it."

There was a rhythmic knock at the door and the two of them jumped in surprise.

"Elsa?" Anna called from the other side. "Uhm… Happy birthday, Elsa."

A slip of paper slid under the door. Elsa walked over to it and took it, a small pained smile forming.

"...Thank you, Anna," she murmured.

"Can I come in?" Anna asked hopefully.

"No. No… sorry." Elsa quickly retreated from the door. Anna let out a disappointed sigh.

"Okay… bye." Her footsteps faded away. Hiccup glanced over at Elsa, who was now by the window and staring at the picture. She sniffled.

"She always draws me Olaf," she murmured with a painful smile, looking up at Hiccup.

"Who?"

"It's… this snowman we made as kids," Elsa said, showing him the picture. It wasn't a bad drawing, but it was definitely an odd looking snowman. "We used to play with each other all the time. She would tell stories, I would make little snow figures to go along with the stories… I would make characters, too…" Elsa sniffled. "Olaf was a happy snowman that liked warm hugs."

Her eyes darkened.

"And then I hurt her."

Hiccup stared, his eyes drifting from between her and the picture.

"...May I ask what happened?" he asked softly. Elsa looked at him.

"...I guess it's only fair, since you told me a lot about yourself," she whispered. "There really isn't much to tell. We were little kids, playing too much… and I couldn't keep up with her…" she shuddered, swallowing a lump in her throat. "I accidentally hit her head with my powers, and… her hair started to turn _white," _her voice started to tremble. "She was turning to ice. Father took us to the trolls, who were able to reverse the spell, but… well…" she shook her head. "Her memories had to be changed, too. I don't want _anything_ like that to happen, ever again."

Hiccup reached out his hand but Elsa flinched away. He immediately drew back.

"Sorry."

"I just… can't touch anyone," she whispered, shaking her head.

"I'm sor—"

"No, don't apologize. It's fine. My mom tries to hug me all the time," Elsa smiled painfully.

"When I find a cure for the both of us, I'll come back," Hiccup swore. "I promise."

Elsa looked away, back to the drawing of the snowman.

"This might be silly to ask, but… can I have something to remember you by?" Elsa asked softly. Hiccup paused, thinking. He didn't really have much, but…

"Do you have any parchment?" he asked. Elsa nodded and went to her desk, taking out some paper and some pencils, handing them to him. Hiccup took them and sat at the table, and began to sketch the first thing that popped into his mind.

Elsa watched him draw, curious as the thing on paper grew more detailed.

"Is… that your dragon?" she asked at last, as Hiccup drew the wing.

"Roughly," Hiccup shrugged. "It was the first thing I thought of."

"He's… not quite what I expected. Are dragon's faces really that… shape?" Elsa asked.

"Night Fury heads are," Hiccup shrugged. Elsa stared down at the paper for a bit longer.

"Why don't you draw yourself?" she asked softly. Hiccup snorted.

"I don't have a mirror," he said, looking up at her.

"There's one right there," Elsa pointed to the other side of her room, above the dresser where a large silver mirror was. Hiccup blinked. He hadn't really paid attention to it before.

A curiosity filled him and he got up, slowly approaching the mirror. He was a little startled when he finally saw his reflection. Unlike the rough mirrors in Bekr, this one was smooth and pristine, and gave a perfect reflection.

He really had changed in the last few months. His face was much thinner, his hair longer. There were deep bags underneath his eyes, as well.

A part of him grew just a little curious. Slowly, he took off the pendant around his neck and let the draconic features appear once again.

His ears were giant and black, much like Toothless's ears, and there were scales trailing along his cheeks. He was mildly surprised that that was the only change he could see. His eyes were still the same, at least. But he definitely wouldn't be drawing his own face... he needed something else to give her.

He stared at this reflection for a bit longer before turning around back to Elsa, an idea forming. He pulled back his sleeve and felt around for a loose scale. One came off easily and he gingerly held it out to Elsa.

"Night fury scale to remember me by," he said.

Why were his cheeks so warm? Was it because picking off a scale was embarrassing? Was she going to be embarrassed by it?

Elsa took the scale, and thankfully didn't seem embarrassed. She studied it with fascination, turning the scale over in her fingers and watching the light reflect off of it.

"Thank you," Elsa said, looking up and giving him a soft smile.

"Could… I have something to remember you by?" Hiccup asked.

"I don't really have much, but…" Elsa glanced around the room and walked over to her dresser, digging through the drawers. "I could… give you an old glove?" she tried, taking one out.

"If you want to," Hiccup said.

"I feel like it's not a very good gift, though… here," Elsa walked over to her desk and brought out the map of the world again. She rolled it up with the glove and then handed both to Hiccup. "Here," she smiled. "So… that when you find a cure… you can find your way back."

Hiccup's cheeks grew even hotter, touched at the gesture.

"Thank you," he said softly, taking them. Elsa took the scale and night fury drawing.

"May I ask more about dragons?" she asked him, looking up. "What were they like? What other kinds of dragons were there?"

Hiccup smiled a little.

"Do you have another piece of parchment?"


	9. STORY UPDATE NOT A CHAPTER

**Hey guys, so quick update: **

I'm probably going to rewrite Hidden Truths, but I can't decide which direction to take it.

The story was starting to feel cringy (i mean considering how I started it way back in 2016, I'm surprised I didn't rework this earlier. Caught in the excitement I guess) so the past couple weeks I've been trying to figure out/rework the plot a lot. I'm definitely going to take out the whole cliche insane wizard thing. I have several ideas for the plot and if any of you guys are interested, I'd like to know your thoughts. Also heck, if you have any ideas, shoot them to me. A solid plot for this story continues to elude me. (i probably shouldn't be trying to come up with a plot like this in the middle of my last semester of college, during freakin midterms. Why do i do this to myself.)

I have this up on a poll on my profile, so you guys can either tell me in the comments where you'd like to see this story go or vote on the poll, but the ideas are as follows:

**Idea one:** Hiccup and Toothless (15 and also not cursed) find themselves stuck in the year 1832 where he finds dragons have gone completely extinct. He meets and befriends the royal family of Arendelle and grows curious about their mysterious daughter. Story will include a wizard (not insane) who thinks he will be able to help Elsa, and also wants to study Toothless because he's never seen a dragon before, so she is sent off to study magic (doesn't go well) and Hiccup and Toothless go with them as Hiccup searches for answers about what happened to the dragons. A magical journey soon follows full of self discovery and also saving Anna from being kidnapped by an Anti-Magic cult. ((((i promise it's a cooler idea than it sounds))).

**Idea two:** I figure out a way for Hiccup and Toothless to be cursed without the Ex Machina crazy wizard problem and continue the story how I originally planned it, with Hiccup and Elsa going on a journey together discovering more about themselves and magic, as well as what happened to the dragons.

**Idea three:** combine both ideas? maybe?

It's reeeaaally hard to put into words what I have in mind without giving away everything lol because I do want to leave the story with some twist and turns and surprises. it's just... hard to decide what those twist and turns will be. Also thanks to my brain and someone I mentioned the story to, I have been suffering massive doubts if this is even worth writing even though it's been helping to keep me sane during this stressful school time, and I just feel like I'm being a cringy butt-hole everytime I so much as doodle my ideas. (((the friend i mentioned the story to/saw a doodle of mine may have reacted very negatively to it and its massively impacted my thought process as I try to go about this story in the least cringey way possible.))

Anyway, so any kind of feedback would be really appreciated 3


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